Hechler, William Henry

(1845–1931)

   Non-Jewish Zionist. An unconventional Christian dressed in flowing Arab robes, Hechler was a missionary in India before he became tutor to the kaiser’s uncle, the Grand Duke of Baden, and then chaplain at the British embassy in Vienna. Interested in messianic calculation, he worked out that Palestine was to be restored to the Jews in 1897 or 1898 and he was determined to play his part in bringing this about.

   He read HERZL’S Judenstaat, called on the author and arranged to introduce him to the Grand Duke of Baden, and then to the kaiser. He went with Herzl to Turkey for talks with the sultan’s advisers, and failed to get Herzl received by the czar. He attended the first Zionist Congress in Basle in 1897, and remained an active Zionist after Herzl’s death. The Reverend Hopkins in Herzl’s Altneuland is a portrait of Hechler.