About This Location
Look for the bronze figure of Heinrich Heine standing on a granite pedestal, slightly apart from the grand Town Hall backdrop. The pose is calm and thoughtful, almost like Heine is watching the city rather than performing for it. This monument was unveiled on 11 May 1982 and was created by the sculptor Waldemar Otto. It is not only a tribute to a major German poet and journalist, born in 1797 and later exiled in Paris. It is also a reminder of how uncomfortable Heine’s ideas and Jewish background were for nationalists and the Nazi regime. A previous Heine monument in Hamburg was removed and destroyed under National Socialism, and the plaques and panels here make that history hard to ignore. Step closer to the pedestal and notice the four bronze reliefs. They add a second layer to the story - not just who Heine was, but what happened to books, artists, and free speech when Germany slid into dictatorship.