The current issue of MEDAON turns its attention to the vast research on the history of Zionism. For this purpose, the editors and publishers were able to collaborate with the Center for Austrian and German Studies at Ben-Gurion University in Beer-Sheva (http://www.bgu.ac.il/german) within the context of an international cooperation. In an enjoyable exchange, exiting contributions were organized that will present new insights from the field at this point.

Our sincere gratitude is first of all due to Mark Gelber, Head of the Center for German Studies, for his willing cooperation and to Stefan Vogt, who with the assistance of Malgorzata Anna Maksymiak and Maja Herrmann organized the contributions section for this special issue and who introduces the reader into the theme of “new research on German-language Zionism”.

This special issue was completed by the editors with a number of articles, which in part transcend the German-language context. At the same time—and this is especially delightful for a journal, which is committed to the pedagogical conveying of Jewish history—one can trace the depiction of the history of Zionism in German schoolbooks in the contribution by Martin Liepach.

Finally, more than a dozen reviews, which critically acknowledge current publications and thereby show the liveliness of the field, flank the central theme of the issue.

We wish you an insightful and pleasant reading!

This issue would also not have been possible without the support of all the reviewers. Corrections were made by Cathleen Bürgelt, Katherine Ebisch-Burton, Maja-Sophie Götting, Phillip Roth und Marcus Schaub as well as Gunther Gebhard and Steffen Schröter of text plus form – the publishers thank them very much!

The MEDAON editors, April 2014.