September 20, 2006
Zionist visionary's request finally actualized – bones of his children brought to Israel for burial 76 years after their death. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert: 'We owe state visionary debt of honor. He is our guide'
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Disinterment ceremony
in France
Photo: Ziv Koren |
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Children to be buried
next to Herzl's grave
Photo: GPO |
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Benjamin Zeev Herzl
Photo: AP |
Paulina and Hans Herzl were buried next to their father on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem Wednesday 76 years after their death. Their father, Theodor (Binyamin Ze’ev) Herzl, asked that they be buried in Israel in his will.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said during the ceremony: "We owe to the visionary of the state a debt of honor. In his will he expressed his wish to bring his family's coffins to Israel. Herzl is a spiritual guide for us."
Olmert mentioned the funeral procession held by the Israeli government August 17, 1949 for the state visionary, saying, "That was a procession of victory. Victory of a vision that become reality. The Jewish nation owes Herzl a historic debt, above which there is no other."
Herzl's two children passed away in September 1930. His daughter Pauline, 40 at her death, died from an overdose of tranquillizers. Her brother Hans also ended his own life a day after he heard about Paulina's death.
Despite Herzl's explicit request in his will, his children's bones were not brought to Israel until now partly due to pressure from religious public figures. Herzl's third child, Trude was murdered in the Holocaust and her burial place is unknown.
Participating in the ceremony were Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Speaker of the Knesset Dalia Itzik, Opposition Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu, and other MKs, ministers and public figures. Gabriel Herzl, a relative of the visionary, said Kaddish.
The coffins were disinterred Tuesday from the old Jewish cemetery in Bordeaux, France, where a burial ceremony was held and they were eulogized. Participating in the ceremony in France were Chairmen of the Executive of World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency for Israel Zeev Bielski, Israel's ambassador to UNESCO, Rav Maman and local community figures. At the end of the ceremony, the coffins were brought to the airport. They arrived in Israel Tuesday night.
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