Heinrich Heine: a Biographical Anthology
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HEINRICH HEINE A Biographical Anthology The publication of this volume by The Jewish Publication Society of America was made possible by the Nehemiah Gitelson Fund, established in loving memory of Nehemiah Gitelson ( 1853- 1932), scholar, rabbi, talmudic teacher, and merchant. The present work is the fifth issued under this Fund. The first, The House of Nasi-The Duke of Naxos, the second, Prince of the Ghetto, and the third, Pil grims in a New Land, were published in 1948. The fourth, The Jews, Their His tory, Culture and Religion, was published in 1949· HEINRICH A Biographical Anthology Edited by HUGO BIEBER English translations made or selected by MOSES HADAS Philadelphia THE JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY OF AMERICA 5717-1956 Copyright @, 1956 by The Jcv.•ish Publication Society of America All Rights Reserved First Edition Library of Congress Catalog Card No.: 56·7782. PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA PREFACE It is right and fittingthat a word of tribute be expressed here in memory of the late Dr. Hugo Bieber, the author of this book. Born in Berlin, Germany, in 1883, he became a historian of Ger man literature and author of a number of works in this field; he was also the literary director of a German book guild. The trans formation of Germany in 1933, from the home of culture to the citadel of Nazism, compelled him to go to France; and in 1940 he came to the United States. Since he had made a special study of Heinrich Heine and had written a number of books on the subject, it was natural for the Jewish Publication Society to turn to him when it decided to prepare a volume on the German poet. The German manuscript was completed in 1948. It was then turned over to Dr. Moses Hadas, Professor of Greek and Latin at Columbia University. Dr. Hadas undertook this task in spite of a very busy schedule and devoted himself to it far beyond what was expected of him. The Jewish Publication Society takes this opportunity to express to him its heartfelt gratitude for his unfailing cooperation. Dr. Bieber's own introductory and explanatory remarks are in Dr. Hadas' translation, but for the selection from Heine's writ ings, large recourse was had to existing versions. Dr. Bieber saw and approved the translation. For the use of copyrighted versions of a number of poems (to be found in this volume on the pages indicated below), acknowl edgment and thanks are due to Mr. Louis Untcrmeyer, and to Harcourt, Brace & Co., publishers of Tlie Poems of Heinrich Heine (New York, 1923): Lyrical Intermezzo, pages q6, 137, 138, 139, 1 4o; Book of Songs, "Home-Coming," pages 146, 1 so; "A Tour in the Harz," pages 181f.; "Peace," page 211; "Poem to Charlotte Embden," page 1 4 3· Acknowledgment and thanks are v vi Preface likewise due to Professor Howard Mumford Jones, for selections from his book The North Sea (Open Court Publishing Co., 1916): First Cycle 2, page 51; Second Cycle 6, page 209. In the case of the prose much has been borrowed from the translations edited for the Camelot Series by Charles Godfrey Leland (Hans Breitmann). Many of these translations are anony mous, and all have been more or less revised by Dr. Hadas; names of individual translators are therefore omitted. Next to the Came lot Series, largest use has been made of Gilbert Cannan's version of Gustav Karpeles' Heinrich Heine's Memoirs from his \Vorks, Letters and Conversations (Heinemann in London and Henry Holt & Co., Inc. in New York, 1910). Borrowings more or less extensive have also been made from John Snodgrass' Religion and Philosophy in Germany (London, 1882,), LB.'s Buch LeGrand of the Reisebilder (London, 1884), Elizabeth Sharp's Italian Travel Sketcl1es of Heinrich Heine, and Kate Freligrath Kroeker's Poems Selected from Heinrich Heine (various translators). A considerable proportion of the poems, for which no translation or no adequate translation was available, was rendered by Dr. Hadas. For a variety of reasons the publication of the \'olume had to be delayed. In 1950 Dr. Bieber passed on to his eternal reward. It is a great pity that he did not live to see the completion of this book. May it help keep his memory alive. CONTENTS Preface .............................................. v-vi Introduction ............ ... : . ....... ... ...... .. ... 1 I. CHILDHOOD AND YouTH ............................ Ancestry .. .......... ... ....... ...... ............. Growing Pains .................... .... ..... ... ... ... Napoleon in Duesseldorf .. .... ...................... Youthful Passion-Redhaired Sefchen ...... .... ....... Student in Frankfort .......................... .... First Hamburg Sojourn .. ... ...... ................. II. STUDENT YEARS .................................... Bonn ... .................................. ....... Journey from Bonn to Goettingen .. ......... .......... First Sojourn in Goettingen ..... ......... ........... Visit to Hamburg ............ ..... ......... ....... Berlin .. ................. ..... .......... .......... 100 Hegel's Disciples ................... ......... ....... 102 The Publication of the Poems .... .... ............. .. 105 Polish Intermezzo ..... ..... ... ..... .... ..... .... 112 The Verein fuer Kultur und \Vissenschaft der fuden .... 119 Lyrical Intermezzo ......... .......... ............. 134 Departure from Berlin .... .......... ...... ... ... ... 141 In the "Abode of Tedium" .... ................ ..... 142 In Goettingen Again ......... .............. ....... 169 A Tour in the Harz .... ......... .......... ......... 178 Examination and Baptism ........ ............ ... .... 192 III. THE NoN-VALID TICKET OF ADMISSION .............. 200 Failure in the Law: Poetry of the Sea ...... ... ....... 201 England and the English ................ ........... 222 Rhine Union Politics .... ........ ............ ...... 236 Italy . ........ ......... .. .. ....... · · · . · · · · · · · · · · · · · 248 Alienation from Germany ........................... 254 IV. LIFE IN PARIS ..................................... 273 First Impressions 273 VII Vlll Contents The First Writings on France . 283 The German Spirit: \Varning . 310 Mathilde ......... .................. · · · · . · · · · · · · · · · 333 The French State Pension . 345 Neglect of Natura1ization . 352 V. THE STRUGGLE FOR CoNSCIENCE . 356 For Freedom of Art . 356 Steps in the Return to Judaism . 374 The Defense of the Jews of Damascus . .. .. .. 378 Anticipations of the Revolution . 385 Visit to Hamburg .. ...... .... ............ ..-. 393 VI. THE MATTRESS CRYPT . 400 The Quarrel about the Inheritance . .. .. 400 The Revolution of 1848 and Its Consequences . 409 Return to Judaism . .. .. .. .. 418 INDEX OF NAMES . 447 HEINRICH HEINE A Biographical Anthology INTRODUCTION Heinrich Heine's grave in the Montmartre cemetery in Paris was destroyed in March 1941 upon the order of Adolf Hitler. From 1856, when the poet died, until its destruction, the grave had been visited and strewn with flowers by thousands and myri ads of visitors from all countries. Now no trace of it is left. As the prophet Habakkuk says, the stones shall cry out. Heine's monu ment has been ground to dust; but though it is itself no longer visible, its message is clear. At the pinnacle of his military tri umphs, the dictator of the Third Reich acknowledged by this barbarous act of destruction that he regarded a dead poet as a dangerous opponent eighty-five years after that poet's death, and that the poet's memory must be effaced if his own system of totalitarian oppression was to survive. National Socialism and its Fuehrer had not forgotten that Heinrich Heine had foretold their advent precisely a century be fore Hitler's rise to power and had warned civilization against that rise. At the close of his book on the history of religion and philosophy in Germany; Heine declared that the German spirit as represented in its outstanding figures had entered upon a development which must lead to conflict with western civiliza tion, and that a revolution would take place in Germany which would far surpass previous revolutions in cruelty and horror. Even before Heine's prophecy became grim reality, German na tionalism of all shades had recognized an irreconcilable enemy in Heine and had sought every means to discredit him. They were not content to degrade the human personality of the poet, but wished to depreciate his poems in the eyes of the world and above all in the eyes of the German people. But neither pre-Hitler nationalism nor the Nazi agitators suc ceeded in their design. Again and again they were frustrated by the realization that outside Germany respect for German poetry 1 2. Heinrich Heine rested principally upon the popularity of Heine's work. But they were more incensed that the Germans themselves, however they might judge Heine's character and opinions, would not surrender their love for his verses. The Nazi regime burned Heine's books. But at least one poem of Heinrich Heine even the most ruthless rule of violence could never banish from the memory and the hearts of the German people. The grossest brutality of GJeichschaJtung could not pre vent Heine's Lorelei from being read, sung and pr�nted in popu lar song books as .before. Authorities had to content themselves with omitting the name of the poet and tolerating the poem as "a popular song of unknown authorship." The fall of German nationalism and the termination of Nazi rule have not put an end to contention concerning Heine. It is true that the larger number of those who vilified Heine was re cruited from among opponents of liberalism