Editing Heinrich Heine (section)

===Young Germany and Ludwig Börne===
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Heine and his fellow radical exile in Paris, [[Ludwig Börne]], had become the role models for a younger generation of writers who were given the name "[[Young Germany]]". They included [[Karl Gutzkow]], [[Heinrich Laube]], [[Theodor Mundt]] and [[Ludolf Wienbarg]]. They were liberal, but not actively political. Nevertheless, they still fell foul of the authorities. 

In 1835, Gutzkow published a novel, ''Wally die Zweiflerin'' ("Wally the Sceptic"), which contained criticism of the institution of marriage and some mildly erotic passages. In November of that year, the German Diet consequently banned publication of works by the Young Germans in Germany and – on Metternich's insistence – Heine's name was added to their number. Heine, however, continued to comment on German politics and society from a distance. His publisher was able to find some ways of getting around the censors and he was still free to publish in France.{{sfn|Sammons|1979|pp=205–218}}{{sfn|Robertson|1988|p=20}}

Heine's relationship with his fellow dissident Ludwig Börne was troubled. Since Börne did not attack religion or traditional morality like Heine, the German authorities hounded him less, although they still banned his books as soon as they appeared. 

Börne was the idol of German immigrant workers in Paris. He was a republican, while Heine was not. Heine regarded Börne, with his admiration for [[Robespierre]], as a puritanical neo-Jacobin and remained aloof from him in Paris, which upset Börne, who began to criticise him, mostly semi-privately. In February 1837, Börne died. When Heine heard that Gutzkow was writing a biography of Börne, he began work on his own, severely critical "memorial" of the man.

When the book was published in 1840 it was universally disliked by the radicals and served to alienate Heine from his public. Even his enemies admitted that Börne was a man of integrity, so Heine's ''ad hominem'' attacks on him were viewed as being in poor taste. Heine had made personal attacks on Börne's closest friend [[Jeanette Wohl]], so Jeannette's husband challenged Heine to a duel. It was the last Heine ever fought – he received a flesh wound in the hip. Before fighting, he decided to safeguard Mathilde's future in the event of his death by marrying her.{{sfn|Sammons|1979|pp=233–242}}

[[File:Max Liebermann Illustration Der Rabbi von Bacherach.jpg|thumb|An illustration by [[Max Liebermann]] for a 1920s edition of Heine's historical novel ''Der Rabbi von Bacherach'']]
Heine continued to write reports for Cotta's ''Allgemeine Zeitung'', and, when Cotta died, for his son and successor. One event which really galvanised him was the 1840 [[Damascus Affair]] in which Jews in Damascus had been subject to [[blood libel]] and accused of murdering an old Catholic monk. This led to a wave of anti-Semitic persecution. 

The French government, aiming at imperialism in the Middle East and not wanting to offend the Catholic party, had failed to condemn the outrage. In contrast, the Austrian consul in Damascus had assiduously exposed the blood libel as a fraud. For Heine, this was a reversal of values: reactionary Austria standing up for the Jews while France temporised. Heine responded by dusting off and publishing his unfinished novel about the persecution of Jews in the Middle Ages, ''Der Rabbi von Bacherach''.{{sfn|Sammons|1979|pp=243–244}}