Heinrich Heine

"Where they burn books, they will also burn people"...In his lecture, Dr. Ben Tolila tells the fascinating life story of Heinrich Heine. The assimilated Jewish poet lived from 1797-1856 in Germany and France. Heine was a unique figure in 19th-century Europe. His uniqueness lies in the fact, that he was very familiar with the German people, and therefore was also the first to predict the Holocaust of European Jewry, which took place less than 100 years after his death.

In his poems and in his journalistic articles he was able to provide a good description of the tumultuous situation in his time. Although he officially converted to Christianity in the Church in order to get work as an attorney, he paved the way to a new type of Jewish identity. An identity that was not bound to tradition, but benefited from its values.

Dr. Yossi Ben Tolila is a graduate of the Department of Jewish History in Bar Ilan University, who lectures in various social contexts about historical personalities. In the lectures he discusses the biographies of the people in light of their times; the circumstances that contributed to their appearance on the stage of history; their thought and activity; and the influence of all these on their generation and future generations. As we know, biographies are of assistance in the study of history, and shed light on the personal, social and political factors, that formed the basis of past events.

Please note: This recording is in Hebrew.