HEINRICH HEINE - Repositories

CHAPTER V
THE WANDERING JEW
HEINE was a symbol of the Jew to most Germans
and the varying attitudes towards him
during the century from the ostracism of Jungdeutschland
in 1835 to the burning of his books in
1933 could serve as a barometer of the German
pressure against the Jews. To the Enghsh, however,
Heine's Jewishness was of secondary importance.
It was rarely discussed in the pre-Victorian
period, when Anglo-Saxon opinion was most
hostile tow^ards him. There were more frequent
references to his Jewish roots during the Victorian
era, when he ranked with Aristophanes, Voltaure,
and Goethe. His origin, as the suffering son of an
ancient people, added solemnity to his personahty
and a tragic background to a tragic individual history.
The closing nineteenth century saw him primarily
as Hellenist and cultural pessimist, as apostle
of neo-paganism and foe of the Nazarenes. His
Jewish ancestry was stressed mainly by his Eng-
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