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    Heinrich Heine

    Jew Score:
    10

    I4

    O2

    K4
    December 13, 1797 – February 17, 1856

    If Germany has a national poet, it's Heinrich Heine, and if it has a national poem, it's "Die Lorelei". It tells of a siren that lives in the eponymous river, luring sailors with her song. So it's no surprise that some Germans wanted to honor the poem and its author by building a monument to it and him. And what better place to honor Heine than his birthplace of Dusseldorf!

    Not so fast: some of the ever-tolerant Germans rejected the tribute to their supposedly-favorite son. You see, Heine was born Jewish.

    German-Americans stepped in. Apparently they had no qualms with Heine's origins, so a monument was commissioned and ready to be placed, smack in the middle of Manhattan.

    Not so fast: the monument was to be... not aesthetically pleasing.

    A long tug-of-war ensued, and Lorelei ended up in the Bronx, where, according to an architecture magazine, its ugliness could be hidden among "the mass of wooden tenements and crazy beer-shops".

    It still stands in the Bronx, in a park, a short walk from Yankee Stadium. And... yeah, it's pretty ugly, siren and all.

    But at least there's a New York City monument honoring a Jew. Thanks, Germany!

    Verdict: Borderline Jew.

    March 27, 2013

    See Also

    Alice Heine

    Paul Heyse

    Felix Mendelssohn

    Erich Maria Remarque

    Rainer Maria Rilke
    © Jew or Not Jew, 2006-2024.