The 1896 publication of Der Judenstaat was the end result of a process that converted Herzl from an assimilated Austrian Jew to one who cared deeply about the Jewish people. From 1891 to 1895, Herzl served as the Paris correspondent of the Neue Freie Presse, a liberal, influential Viennese daily. During his years in Paris, Herzl witnessed the rise in French anti-semitism, culminating in the Dreyfus Affair. This event convinced Herzl that the only solution to the Jewish 'problem' was a Jewish exodus from those countries espousing anti-semitism. In May 1895, Herzl met with Baron Maurice de Hirsch to discuss the Jewish problem, but nothing substantive came of the discussions. During that year, Herzl worked on outlining his plan, originally titled "An Address to the Rothschilds" (Europe's most prominent Jewish family). In 1896, after having shown portions of his plans to various friends and supporters, Herzl decided that he had to publish the plan as a whole, and reworked it, naming it Der Judesnstaat (The Jewish State). The book received a varied, but mainly positive, response from European Jewry. It was the first clear vision of political Zionism, and it called for the establishment of a Jewish State as the only solution to the Jewish problem. Herzl used the book's publication as a springboard for the launch of political Zionism.