The principal worldwide entity of the Zionist movement
The first WZO constitution was adopted at the third Zionist Congress in 1899. Initially, the WZO was based mainly on Zionist delegates from various countries, but representation gradually went over to ideology-based political parties. The WZO head office operated from 1911 in Berlin. During World War I, it turned out to be impossible to maintain contacts with Zionists in the western countries and Russia, wherefore the head office was moved to Copenhagen in 1915 and to London in 1917.
German branch of the World Zionist Movement, founded in 1897. In its first few years, the Federation was typified by a moderate Zionist ideology that avoided confrontation with the liberal majority of German Jews. However, shortly before World War I, when the young generation took over the movement under Kurt Blumenfeld, the Federation took a radical turn, placing a greater emphasis on the intent to emigrate to Palestine and thereby creating a schism with the Liberal organisations, foremost the CV. During World War I, the Zionist Federation became a more significant minority among German Jews; in the Weimar era, it steadily widened its influence in German Jewish politics as an opposition to the Liberal Jewish establishment. The Federation's strength peaked in the first few years of the Nazi tenure, especially among the young, until the Nazis dissolved it late in 1938.
