FREDERICK I°

FREDERICK I° (1826–1907), grand duke of Baden, son-in-law of Kaiser William I, and uncle by marriage of Kaiser William II. Frederick ruled Baden from 1852 until his death and carried out many reforms in the school and voting system   based on liberal ideas and was the first and almost the only influential political figure to help herzl wholeheartedly. When he learned of Herzl and Der Judenstaat from his sons' tutor, the Reverend william hechler , he followed Herzl's progress with deep sympathy. It was he who arranged the meeting between the German kaiser and Herzl when the former visited Ereẓ Israel in 1898, and he sent enthusiastic memoranda on political Zionism to the Russian czar. His efforts to arrange meetings between Herzl, the czar, and the king of England were unsuccessful, but the czar sent him a letter in support of political Zionism. Frederick received Herzl several times and they conducted an extremely friendly correspondence. The grand duke's picture, which he sent to Herzl, adorned the latter's study (and can be seen in the reconstruction of this room at the Herzl Museum, Jerusalem). After failures and disappointments in the diplomatic sphere, Herzl was greatly encouraged by his personal contacts with Frederick. The Zionist Organization sent a delegation (including david wolfsohn and nahum sokolow ) to Frederick's funeral in Karlsruhe. The grand duke's correspondence with Herzl, the kaiser, the czar, and others in German, English, and French was found in 1959 by H. and B. Ellern, who published a facsimile edition in 1961. Later all the letters were published in the Herzl Year Book, 4 (1961–62), 207–70 by H. Zohn, together with an English translation of the letters in German and French. -ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: L. Schwarzmaier, "Grossherzog Friedrich I. und der Antisemitismus in Baden," in: F.-J. Ziwes, Badische Synagogen aus der Zeit Friedrich I. in zeitgenössischen Photographien (1997), 25–32; H.-G. Zier, "Theodor Herzl und Großherzog Friedrich I. von Baden – Zwei Streiter fuer den Judenstaat," in: Juden in Baden 1809–1984 (1984), 109–30; W.P. Fuchs, Grossherzog Friedrich I. von Baden und die Reichspolitik 1871–1907, vol. 1–4 (1968–80); idem, Studien zu friedirch I. von Baden (1995). (Getzel Kressel / Bjoern Siegel (2nd ed.)