Herz, Henriette

SOCIETY PERSONALITY (GERMANY)
BORN 5 Sep 1764, Berlin - DIED 22 Oct 1847, Berlin
BIRTH NAME Lemos, Henriette de
GRAVE LOCATION Berlin: Kirchhof Jerusalem und Neue Kirche II, Zossener Strasse (Halleschen Tor), Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg (1/2-3-9 28, Ehrengrab)

Henriette Herz grew up in Berlin during the time of Jewish emancipation. She was educated by the same tutors as the Mendelssohn daughters and Dorothea Mendelssohn was among her best friends. When she was fifteen years old she married Dr. Marcus Herz, a physician who was twenty years older than she was.

She was beautiful and highly intelligent and together with her husband she started a salon. After a few years they had effectively two salons, a science salon led by her husband and a literary salon led by her. After her husband died in 1803 she continued her salon. It was visited by Schiller, Mirabeau, J.G. Schadow, A. von Humboldt, Schleiermacher and many others. She also knew Goethe, but she regarded his work critically.

In 1817 she became a Christian under the influence of Schleiermacher. In 1845 Alexander von Humboldt helped her to a royal pension.

Related persons
• was a friend of Börne, Ludwig
• knew Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von
• was visited by Lewald, Fanny
• knew Schadow, Johann Gottfried
• was visited by Schiller, Friedrich von
• was visited by Schlegel, Dorothea von
• knew Schlegel, Friedrich von
• was visited by Schleiermacher, Friedrich
• was a friend of Schleiermacher, Friedrich

Images

The grave of Henriette Herz at the Kirchhof Jerusalem und Neue Kirche II, Halleschen Tor, Kreuzberg, Berlin.
Picture by Androom (08 Apr 2003)

 

Sources
Baedeker Berlin, Baedeker Verlag, Stuttgart, 1994
Grosse Frauen der Weltgeschichte, Neuer Kaiser Verlag, Klagenfurt, 1987
Henriette Herz - Wikipedia (EN)


Herzen, Aleksandr Ivanovitsj

Published: 23 May 2010
Last update: 04 Jan 2022