Fonds JM-CZA/Institutions/1/Z3 - Central Zionist Office, Berlin

The Zionist Organization (ZO) was created at the instigation of Theodor Herzl in August 1897 during the First Zionist Congress held in Basel (Switzerland). Its foundation went along with the establishment of the Basel Program, stating its goals, which can be summed up as follows: to promote the settlement of Jewish people in Palestine; to unit the Jewish community on local and international levels; to strengthen the Jewish national sentiment; to intervene with government.
The Central Zionist Office, headquarters of the organization, was first set in Vienna (Austria-Hungary then). Afterwards, it moved to Cologne (Germany - 1905), to Berlin (Germany - 1911), to London (Great Britain - 1920) and, finally, to Jerusalem (1955).
In 1960, the Zionist Organization changed its name to World Zionist Organization (WZO).
Several bodies are coordinated by the WZO, as world zionist unions, territorial zionist federations and international zionist organizations.