Heinrich Heine

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Lore & Background

Heine was born on 13 December 1797 in Düsseldorf, then in the Duchy of Berg, into a Jewish family. He was called 'Harry' in childhood but became known as 'Heinrich' after his conversion to Lutheran Christianity in 1825. His father Samson Heine (1764–1828) was a textile merchant; his mother Peira, née van Geldern (known as 'Betty') (1771–1859) was the daughter of physician Gottschalk van Geldern. Heinrich was the eldest of four children, with sister Charlotte (later Charlotte Embden) and brothers Gustav and Maximilian. He was a third cousin once removed of Karl Marx. Düsseldorf had a population of about 16,000 at the time. Heine's formative years were spent under French influence; he admired Napoleon as a promoter of revolutionary ideals. He attended a Jewish school as a child, then Catholic schools, learning French. In 1814 he went to a business school in Düsseldorf, learning English. In 1816 he moved to Hamburg to apprentice at his uncle Salomon Heine's bank, but showed little aptitude for business. At 18, he had an unrequited love for his cousin Amalie. He studied law at the universities of Bonn, Göttingen, and Berlin. At Bonn he heard lectures by August Wilhelm Schlegel and wrote two tragedies, Almansor and William Ratcliff. At Berlin he encountered the philosopher Hegel and joined the Verein für Kultur und Wissenschaft der Juden. He was expelled from a student fraternity for antisemitism and suspended from Göttingen for six months after a duel. On 28 June 1825, after obtaining his PhD, he was baptized as an Evangelical Lutheran Christian in Heiligenstadt, calling his conversion 'the ticket of admission into European culture.'

Reader's Guide

Heine's significance lies in his role as a poet and critic whose work bridged Romanticism and political satire. His early lyric poetry became foundational for the German Lied tradition, set by major composers like Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, and Franz Schubert. His later writings, marked by irony and wit, made him a leading figure of the Young Germany movement. His radical political views led to many works being banned by German authorities, which only increased his fame. He spent his last 25 years in Paris as an expatriate, becoming a celebrity avatar reflective of the liberal and cosmopolitan values of the mainstream press. In the Third Reich, his name was invoked as an archetype of an influential Jewish opinion columnist. His phrase 'Where they burn books, they will ultimately burn people also' is remembered as prophetic of the Holocaust. Heine's legacy endures as a voice for freedom and a critic of repression.

Did You Know?

• Heine was a third cousin once removed of philosopher and economist Karl Marx, with whom he became a frequent correspondent in later life.
• He was expelled from a student fraternity for antisemitism and suspended from the University of Göttingen for six months after challenging another student to a duel.
• Heine's conversion to Lutheran Christianity in 1825 was reluctant; he later declared, 'I make no secret of my Judaism, to which I have not returned, because I never left it.'
• His uncle Salomon Heine was a millionaire banker in Hamburg, and Heine moved there in 1816 to apprentice at his bank.
• Heine's phrase 'Where they burn books, they will ultimately burn people also' ultimately came true in the Holocaust.