HARVARD UKRAINIAN STUDIES - See also - Harvard University

Ivan Franko and Theodor Herzl:To the Genesis of Franko's MojsejASHER WILCHERIntroductionAll his life Ivan Franko (1856-1916) studied Judaism and Jews, bothhistorically and in terms of their being part of Galician society. Jewsfigure prominently in the Ukrainian writer's novels, poetry, and journalism.1In doing research for my Ph.D. dissertation, "Ivan Franko and theBible," 2 1 found two literary documents in Polish that shed new lighton the genesis of Franko's masterpiece Mojsej (1893-1905). The twodocuments are fascinating because they provide information about thepersonal acquaintance and literary relationship of the UkrainianMoses — Ivan Franko —and the new Jewish prophet — TheodorHerzl (1860-1904). Since the two documents are from newspaperspublished in Lviv which are not readily available to Western scholars, Ipresent them in the original as well as in English translation here,together with some background information and analysis.I. VasyV Scurat's Account of the Meeting ofFranko and Herzl in Vienna in February 1893JerusalemThe genesis of Mojsej is associated with the influence exerted on IvanFranko by the distinguished leader of modern Jewry and prophet ofJewish national revival, Theodor Herzl, whom he met in February1893 in Vienna. 3 Vasyl' Śćurat (1871-1948), poet and literary scholar,who was then a new student at the university in Vienna and1To this topic Petro Kudrjavcev devoted the study, "Jevrejstvo, jevreji tajevrejs'ka sprava ν tvorax Ivana Franka," in Zbirnyk prac' Jevrejs'koji istoryćnoarxeohraficnojikomisiji (Ukrajins'ka akademija nauk), vol. 2 (Kiev 1929),pp. 1-81.2University of Ottawa, 1977.3Franko was then completing a doctoral program at the University of Vienna.