Karl Ludwig Börne

Börne, Ludwig (Frankfurt/Main, 1786-1837, Paris), originally Juda Löw Baruch, changed his name to Börne on conversion to Christianity in 1817 with the intention of qualifying for public service. He was employed in police administration in Frankfurt from 1811 to 1815, when he was dismissed on religious grounds. For the rest of his life he worked as a Radical journalist, editing Die Waage from 1818 until its suppression in 1821. He also published a short-lived journal entitled Die Zeitschwingen. For a short time in 1820 he was kept in custody, but the political charge against him was dismissed. After the July Revolution of 1830 (see Julirevolution) he moved to Paris, where he spent the rest of his life directing barbed and witty polemical writings against the German opponents of Radicalism. To this time belong Briefe aus Paris (1831-3) and Menzel der Franzosenfresser (1837, see Menzel, W.). Börne expressly subordinated literature to politics, but he had a warm corner in his heart for Jean Paul, whom he celebrated in Denkrede auf Jean-Paul (1825). Börne was not one of those named as a member of Jungdeutschland (see Junges Deutschland) in 1835, but he sympathized with the views and aims of the group. His Gesammelte Schriften were published in 1868. Sämtliche Schriften (5 vols.), ed. I. and P. Rippmann, appeared in 1964-8 (reprinted 1977). Of Werke. Historisch-kritische Ausgabe in zwölf Bänden, ed. L. Geiger et al., only 6 vols. appeared (1911-13). Über das Schmollen der Weiber. Berliner Briefe an Jeanette Wohl und andere Schriften, ed. W. Jasper, appeared in 1987, Worte sind meine Werkzeuge. Das Kleine Börne-Brevier, by Keith Spalding, in 1995.

Quotes:

"Getting rid of a delusion makes us wiser than getting hold of a truth."

"Nothing is lasting but change; nothing perpetual but death."

"Losing an illusion makes you wiser than finding a truth."