On March 12, 1940, one of the main figures in the German Zionist movement, Max Bodenheimer, passed away. At the First Zionist Congress, he became closely acquainted with Theodor Herzl, whom he later accompanied to both Constantinople and Palestine in 1898. Bodenheimer helped write the Zionist movement constitution and was on the board of the Jewish National Fund, which purchased land from the Ottoman and British-occupied Palestine to redistribute to indigenous Jewish inhabitants. Max Bodenheimer was born in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1865. Upon obtaining his degree in law, Bondeheimer moved to Cologne, Germany, where he practiced as an attorney. During this time, Bodenheimer became interested in the ‘Jewish Question’, the name given to the wide range of debates concerning the Jews’ status and treatment in 18th- and 19th-century European society. His solution to the question aligned with Herzl’s ideology; both believed in the emigration of Jews to Eretz Israel (the Land of Israel) to achieve Jewish self-determination. Herzl and Bodenheimer pioneered political Zionism, an ideology that frames the Jewish Question through a political, rather than cultural, lens. Together, they wrote the Zionist constitution and attended the first Zionist Congress, where Bodenheimer was elected to be a member of the Inner Actions Committee. In 1898, Bodenheimer accompanied Herzl to the First Zionist Delegation in Ottoman-occupied Palestine to meet German Emperor Wilhelm II. Herzl and Bodenheimer hoped that by meeting in the Jewish holy land, they could gain the Emperor’s support for building homes for the Jews in the land of Israel. Yet, despite their carefully curated efforts, they failed to gain Wilhelm’s support. In 1929, Bodenheimer joined Ze’ev Jabotinsky’s Revisionist Party, which differed from other branches of Zionism in their right-wing politics. The Revisionists believed in the creation of a Greater Israel encompassing Transjordan in addition to the entire Mandate of Palestine. At the 17th Zionist Congress, Bodenheimer and the Revisionists encountered controversy with the majority, which resulted in the Revisionist Party exiting the Congress. Bodenheimer then pursued a life away from politics and emigrated to Jerusalem, where he began his literary career by writing memoirs and poems.