The aim of this article is to highlight the factors and the reasons underlying the Zionismuskritik in Joseph Roth’s intellectual work. Through a detailed analysis of the multifaceted territorial and religious configuration of the author’s identity, the article organizes a discussion on the heterogeneous approach of the author to the issues related to the Zionismuskritik. The position of the author towards this topic brings out a real theoretical question, which includes secularized concepts such as ‘nationalism’ and ‘assimilation’. The point of view through which the text focuses this matter is, in particular, that of polemical writings. The article can be divided into three sections: in the first part, the emphasis is laid on how the reflection on Zionismus does not constitute a constant of Roth‘s production, while restoring the image of an author who refuses the idea of a definite belonging, by preferring, rather, a connection to a universal homeland. This reflection is carried out by an author who has been defined as a synthesis between both the Habsburg Monarchy and the so-called world of yesterday and the Judentum. In the second section, the article underlines the single issue of the Judentum in relation to the derives of nationalisms. In particular, in the polemical essays, Roth expresses himself critically towards Zionismus. From these writings emerge, as a matter of fact, contrasting considerations: on the one hand, there is an almost anti-Zionist position and on the other, an attempt to justify the existence of Zionism. In the third and last part, the article takes into consideration the delicate question of the Jews and the diaspora, by stating how the approach to this matter is, in fact, put into contact with universal registers and associations.