The Harz Journey

Christian Johann Heinrich Heine; born Harry Heine (1797 –1856) was a leading poet, author, and literary critic, of the German Romantic Movement. Known for his early lyric poems, frequently set to music in the form of Lieder by composers such as Schumann and Schubert, his later verse and prose (for example ‘Die Wintermärchen’ based on his brief visit to Germany in 1843) were notable for their satirical wit and irony. Heine emigrated to France, in 1831, due to the political conditions in Germany during the post-Napoleonic German Restoration period. In 1835, his works were banned with those of the other poets of ‘Young Germany’, and he spent the last twenty-five years of his life in Paris.

Heine, when a student in Göttingen, hiked through the Harz Mountains, in the autumn of 1824. ‘Die Harzreise’ his description of the journey, a mixture of lyricism and satire, was published in 1826, as part of a four-volume edition entitled Reisebilder, by Hoffmann & Campe, in Hamburg. It was Heine’s first major success with the public, and remains one of his most popular works.

Heine's route ran from Göttingen, through the Weender Gate, and across the Harz foreland to the Brocken, from which he descended the Ilse valley to Ilsenburg. Along the way he visited Nörten, Northeim, Osterode (with an overnight stay), the Osterode castle ruins, Lerbach, Clausthal (including a visit to the Dorothea and Karolina mines), and Zellerfeld (with an overnight stay at the Krone inn — note that Clausthal and Zellerfeld are now combined as Clausthal-Zellerfeld). He then continued to Goslar (an overnight stay), followed by a view of the Rammelsberg near the Harzburg, an overnight stay at the home of the Clausthal miner's brother near Goslar (the subject of a three-part poem), the Brocken (with an overnight stay in the Brockenhaus), and finally the Ilsenstein, passed during his descent of the Ilse valley to Ilsenburg.