Heinrich Heine

Heinrich Heine
A painting of Heine by Moritz Daniel Oppenheim
Born	Heinrich Heine (1797-12-13)13 December 1797 Düsseldorf
Died	17 February 1856(1856-02-17) (aged 58) Paris, France
Occupation	Poet, essayist, journalist, literary critic
Nationality	German
Alma mater	Bonn, Berlin, Göttingen
Literary movement	Romanticism
Notable works	Buch der Lieder, Reisebilder, Germany. A Winter's Tale, Atta Troll, Romanzero
Relatives	Salomon Heine, Gustav Heine von Geldern, Karl Marx
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Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was a German poet, journalist, essayist, and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of Lieder (art songs) by composers such as Robert Schumann and Franz Schubert. Heine's later verse and prose are distinguished by their satirical wit and irony. He is considered part of the Young Germany movement. His radical political views led to many of his works being banned by German authorities. Heine spent the last 25 years of his life as an expatriate in Paris.

Heine was born at Düsseldorf in what was then the Duchy of Berg, into a Jewish family. He was called "Harry" in childhood but became known as "Heinrich" after his conversion to Lutheranism in 1825. Heine's father, Samson Heine (1764–1828), was a textile merchant. His mother Peira (known as "Betty"), née van Geldern (1771–1859), was the daughter of a physician.

Heinrich was the eldest of four children. His siblings were Charlotte; Gustav Heine von Geldern, later Baron Heine-Geldern and publisher of the Viennese newspaper ; and Maximilian, who became a physician in Saint Petersburg. Heine was also a third cousin once removed of philosopher and economist Karl Marx, also born to a German Jewish family in the Rhineland, with whom he became a frequent correspondent in later life.

Düsseldorf was then a small town with a population of around 16,000. The French Revolution and subsequent Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars involving Germany complicated Düsseldorf's political history during Heine's childhood. It had been the capital of the Duchy of Jülich-Berg, but was under French occupation at the time of his birth. It then went to the Elector of Bavaria before being ceded to Napoleon in 1806, who turned it into the capital of the Grand Duchy of Berg; one of three French states he established in Germany. It was first ruled by Joachim Murat, then by Napoleon himself. Upon Napoleon's downfall in 1815 it became part of Prussia.