William Hechler
Over his lifetime he gained proficiency in English, German, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Arabic, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French and two African dialects.
William's interest in Jewish studies and Palestine evolved under the influence of developing European Evangelical Restorationist theology.
Through Friedrich's son Ludwig, Hechler developed a relationship with the Grand Duke's nephew, the young Hohenzollern prince, and later German Kaiser Wilhelm II.
Hechler's position in Cork was not successful and he moved to London in 1879 as an official minister of the Church of England.
Hechler wrote what is still considered one of the finest histories of the Protestant Church in Palestine to help obtain the position, "The Jerusalem Bishopric",[2] 1885.
Traveling through Odessa, he met the proto-Zionist, Leon Pinsker, author of Auto –Emancipation, a treatise on a Jewish solution to endemic antisemitism by the establishment of a separate State.
Stopping in Constantinople, Hechler attempted to deliver, through the British Ambassador, a letter to the Sultan of Turkey from Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.
Hechler did not believe that conversion of the Jews to Christianity was a pre-condition of their return to Palestine or for the advent of the Second Coming.
In his private residence, he collected Bibles, maps of Palestine and constructed a scale model of the Jewish Temple that had stood in Jerusalem.
Herzl composed the thoughts he had been struggling with over a number of months prior to the conviction of Dreyfus and published them in a book, Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State).
For he had calculated in accordance with a prophecy dating from Omar's reign (637-638) that after 42 prophetical months, that is, 1,260 years, Palestine would be restored to the Jews.
A window of the very bright room was open, letting in the cool spring air, and Mr. Hechler showed me his Biblical treasures.
He needed Hechler to help gain him entre and hence recognition by a great European power of his ideas re: Political Zionism.
"………..He considers our departure for Jerusalem to be quite imminent and showed me the coat pocket in which he will carry his big map of Palestine when we shall be riding around the Holy Land together.
The Grand Duke had received him immediately upon his arrival, but first wanted to wait for his privy-councilor's report on my Jewish State."
Two days later, on 25 April, Hechler brought a very nervous Herzl[7] to a private audience with the Grand Duke.
It was the first time that Herzl was able to share his vision of Political Zionism and his solution to the "Jewish Problem" with German royalty.
Frederick I, Grand Duke of Baden was very taken with Hechler's eschatological predictions and with Herzl's pragmatic solution to the Jewish problem through restoration of the Jews to Palestine.
Throughout 1897, Hechler worked to introduce Herzl to the Christian world, speaking at every opportunity or writing to every interested clergyman.
During the early fall of 1898, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany planned a trip to Palestine to visit the German settlements there and dedicate the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, Jerusalem.
Palestine, 29 October 1898, outside a small Rothschild funded Jewish agricultural settlement, Herzl publicly awaited the Kaiser on his way to Jerusalem.
It was the first public acknowledgement of Herzl as the leader of the world Zionist movement by a major European power.
On 2 November 1898 Theodor Herzl and the Zionist delegation who accompanied him, formally went to Kaiser Wilhelm's encampment outside of Jerusalem.
At the public presentation outside of Mikveh, and in Jerusalem, Herzl realized that Kaiser Wilhelm had failed with the Sultan and no longer had interest in him or Zionism.
Herzl turned his attention to gaining access to the Royal House of power in Great Britain.
Hechler was actively against World War I, which put an end to his romantic dream of unity between the British and German peoples.
[1] Beginning in the late 1920s the Zionist Executive provided a small monthly pension of 10 pounds to Hechler.
Hechler lived to see the Political Zionist Movement of Theodor Herzl, that he had worked and succeeded in legitimizing in public opinion, given the backing of a major European world power.
Hechler's predictions of a coming catastrophe for the Jewish people occurred, 6,000,000 European Jews were murdered from 1939-1945.
Led by the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation[11] and the British Christian Zionist Movement, an appropriate graveside memorial was erected on 31 January 2011.
