Theodor Herzl. Theodor Herzl (May 2, 1860 – July 3, 1904) was an Austro-Hungarian Jewish journalist and playwright who became the founder of modern political Zionism.His Hebrew personal name was Binyamin Ze'ev.The Dreyfus Affair convinced Herzl that assimilation into European society would not protect Jews from anti-Semitism and that the creation of a Jewish state was the only solution.arly Life. Herzl was born in Budapest. He settled in Vienna in his boyhood, and was educated there for the law, taking the required Austrian legal degrees, but he devoted himself almost exclusively to journalism and literature.