Heinle, Otto Ludwig, 1901-1977

Biography

Otto Ludwig Heinle was born in Karlsruhe, Germany on November 19, 1901, the son of Ludwig Philipp Heinle and Luise Kammerer. After attending grammar schools in Karlsruhe and Mannheim, he attended Mannheim's Realgymnasium until 1920 and its Handelshochschule where he took evening courses in banking from 1921 to 1923. Heinle worked at the Mannheimer Bank from 1920 to 1925, as an apprentice for the first two years, then as a correspondent and accountant. In 1925 he emigrated to McCook, Nebraska and in 1926 moved to Chicago where he secured a position as an accountant for the National Bond and Investment Company; a position he held until 1936. Heinle became a naturalized U. S. citizen on April 12, 1932. He took evening courses in Commerce at Northwestern University's Chicago campus from 1927 to 1932. He completed the requirements for a B.A. in German from Northwestern in 1933 after taking courses in English, Education and Music at the University's Evanston campus and completing his practice teaching at New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois.

Heinle taught German at Carl Schurz Evening High School in Chicago from 1934 to 1938. In 1937 he received his master's degree in German from Northwestern. His thesis, titled “The Estimate Placed by the Early Romanticists on Their Literary Predecessors,” analyzed works of such writers as Klopstock, Herdu, Lessing, Jean Paul, Goethe, and Schiller. From 1938 to 1942 Heinle served as an instructor of German at Northwestern's University College. He taught commercial subjects in the Chicago Public High Schools before returning to Northwestern as a lecturer in German from 1944 to 1946. From 1946 to 1949 Heinle taught German in the Milwaukee Extension Division of the University of Wisconsin, now the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. Heinle returned to Northwestern from 1949 to 1950 for doctoral studies and completed his dissertation, The Criminal in the Works of Paul Ernst, in 1951. He spent the rest of his career teaching German and Accounting in Chicago at Von Steuben and Carl Schurz high schools. Although he was affiliated with several professional organizations, he was most active in the American Association of Teachers of German and served as treasurer of its Chicago Chapter from 1944 to 1947.

An avid amateur musician, Heinle studied piano and violin and performed in choirs and chamber music organizations as well as composed his own music. He married Lilian Steelhammer (1895-1962); the couple had no children. Heinle died in Chicago on April 18, 1977.

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