Heine, Heinrich

German poet and publicist born as Harry Heine in Düsseldorf, Prussia. His father was a Jewish textile merchant from a family of merchants; there were academics and doctors on his mother's side of the family. Heine left school in 1814 without graduating. He trained as a merchant in Frankfurt am Main and Hamburg, and opened a business that folded in 1819. Heine then studied law in Bonn, Göttingen and finally in Berlin where he attended Hegel's lectures and Rahel Varnhagen von Ense's literary salon. In 1825, Heine took his law degree in Göttingen. Also in 1825, he converted to the Protestant faith. There were few opportunities for a Jew to make an academic career in Prussia, and he saw Protestantism as a way of accessing the European cultural sphere. He also changed his Jewish first name to Christian Johann Heinrich.