Kadimah (student association)

Kadimah (Hebrew: קדימה‎‎, lit. Forwards) was the first Jewish student association in Vienna, founded many years before Theodor Herzl became the leading spokesman of the Zionist movement.

The national Jewish and Zionist Kadimah was founded by Nathan Birnbaum together with Moses Schnirer, Ruben Bierer and Peretz Smolenskin in Vienna on 25 October 1882.

Well-known members of Kadimah have included Sigmund Freud, Isidor Schalit and Fritz Löhner-Beda.

Members of the Kadimah founded the Jewish studentenverbindung Hasmonaea Czernowitz in 1891, Moriah Vienna in 1893 and Barissia Radautz in 1912.

Kadimah itself was liquidated by then Nazi-ruled official authorities in August 1938.

References

• Ludwig Rosenhek (editor), Festschrift zur Feier des 100. Semesters der akademischen Verbindung Kadimah 1883-1933, Wien 1933
• Harriet Zivia Pass, Kadimah: Jewish Nationalism in Vienna before Herzl, Columbia 1969