Der kranke Mann im Golus

Zionism is rooted in the programme for overcoming the Diaspora. The descriptions of this programme go hand in hand with an in-depth »diagnosis« of the sufferings of the Diaspora as a symptom of the ongoing animosity towards Jews and their persecution even, and particularly, in the age of emancipation. This cultural, social and political diagnosis was described in Zionism - and it is no coincidence that this happened mostly through physicians - as the medical and psychiatric pathologization of the »Jewish people’s body«. In this process of naturalization and scientification paradigms and methods of the contemporary humanities and social sciences were applied, including concepts as controversial as that of the »Jewish race«. The present analysis examines this medical account from two complementary perspectives: the medical verbalization of the political discourse of Zionism on the one hand (Leon Pinsker, Max Nordau, etc.), and the politicization of medicine on the other (Arthur Kahn, Felix Theilhaber, etc.).