Salomon Heine (19 October 1767 – 23 December 1844) was a

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in goods produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Merchants have been known for as long as humans have engaged in trade and commerce. Merchants and merchant networks operated i ...

and

banker A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

. Heine was born in

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

. Penniless, he came to

in 1784 and in the following years acquired sizeable assets. It was common knowledge at the time that he was benefactor and patron to his nephew

Heinrich Heine Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; ; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was an outstanding poet, writer, and literary criticism, literary critic of 19th-century German Romanticism. He is best known outside Germany for his ...

. Because of his wealth – by the time of his death his estate was worth an estimated

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

110 million – he was called "

Rothschild Rothschild () is a name derived from the German ''zum rothen Schild'' (with the old spelling "th"), meaning "to the red shield", in reference to the houses where these family members lived or had lived. At the time, houses were designated by signs ...

of Hamburg".

Life

Heine learned the trade of banking at ''Bankhaus Popert'' in Hamburg. Subsequently, he started his own business as a draft broker, cooperating closely with ''Emanuel Anton von Halle''. In 1797, together with Marcus Abraham Heckscher (1770–1823), he founded the ''Heckscher & Co.'' merchant bank. In 1818, now being the sole executive director, he changed the company's name to ''Bankhaus Salomon Heine''. During the following years he rose to becoming one of Hamburg's most successful bankers of the time.

Promoter of poet Heinrich Heine

Salomon Heine let young Heinrich Heine work and learn at his Hamburg bank ''Heckscher & Co.'' and eventually offered Heinrich a position with the cloth company ''Harry Heine & Comp.'' Heinrich though, who had fallen in love with Salomon's daughter Amalie, devoted himself chiefly to poetry and took very little interest in business. Soon he had to declare bankruptcy. Salomon Heine was angered by his nephew choosing poetry as a way of life, in which he himself saw no money. His disapproval became apparent in the dictum: "''Hätt er gelernt was Rechtes, müsst er nicht schreiben Bücher'' (Had he learned something proper he needed not write books)." Nonetheless, Salomon paid for Heinrich's studies in

Jurisprudence Jurisprudence, also known as theory of law or philosophy of law, is the examination in a general perspective of what law is and what it ought to be. It investigates issues such as the definition of law; legal validity; legal norms and values ...

and until his death he regularly granted Heinrich financial aid.

Benefactor of Hamburg

Salomon Heine's bounty and his position as benefactor are traded by an anecdote: emissaries from a

religious order A religious order is a subgroup within a larger confessional community with a distinctive high-religiosity lifestyle and clear membership. Religious orders often trace their lineage from revered teachers, venerate their Organizational founder, ...

who intended to build a

hospital A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized Medical Science, health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically ...

were asking wealthy Hamburg residents for donations. The order was then told to first contact the

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish banker Heine, the people would donate the same amount as Heine plus one additional

Thaler A thaler or taler ( ; , previously spelled ) is one of the large silver coins minted in the states and territories of the Holy Roman Empire and the Habsburg monarchy during the Early Modern period. A ''thaler'' size silver coin has a diameter o ...

. The

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders in the Catholic Church. There are also friars outside of the Catholic Church, such as within the Anglican Communion. The term, first used in the 12th or 13th century, distinguishes the mendi ...

s told Heine of the merchants' reaction and he let them name the price of the hospital's construction. Heine paid exactly one half, so the other businessmen, bound by their words, were obliged to finance the rest. Moreover, Heine worked in Hamburg for the rest of his life. After the disastrous

Great Fire of Hamburg The great fire of Hamburg began early on 5 May 1842, in Deichstraße and burned until the morning of 8 May, destroying about one third of the buildings in the Altstadt, Hamburg, Altstadt. It killed 51 people and destroyed 1,700 residences and se ...

in 1842, he participated in the city's reconstruction with his private assets. Additionally, he founded the Israelite Hospital of Hamburg in remembrance of his wife Betty who had died in 1837. Heinrich Heine lauded his uncle's foundation in the form of a poem, ''"Das neue israelitische Hospital zu Hamburg"'', which was published in the volume ''"Neue Gedichte"''. What Heine as a personality meant for Hamburg was most clearly shown though at his funeral. It turned into a demonstration of connecting popularity: thousands of people, Jews as well as Christians, spontaneously accompanied Heine on his last journey to the

Ottensen Ottensen () (old name: Ottenhusen) is a former town located in Hamburg, Germany in the Altona borough on the right bank of the Elbe river. It is a now one of the 104 quarters of Hamburg. History The first record of Ottensen dates from 1310. ...

Jewish cemetery.

References

* *

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Heine, Salomon 18th-century German people 19th-century German people Jews from Hamburg German bankers Heinrich Heine 1767 births 1844 deaths Merchants from the Holy Roman Empire Bankers from the Holy Roman Empire