REUTER (roi'ter) FRITZ (1810-1874), German novelist, made Plattdeutsch a literary language. Born Nov. 7, 181o, at Stavenhagen, in Mecklenburg-Schwerin, he studied at Rostock and at Jena, where he was a member of the political students' club, or German Burschenschaft, and in 1833 was arrested in Ber lin by the Prussian Government. Although the only charge which could be proved against him was that he had been seen wearing the Burschenschaft colours, he was condemned to death for high treason. The sentence was commuted to imprisonment for 3o years in a Prussian fortress. In 1838, through the personal inter vention of the grand-duke of Mecklenburg, he was handed over to the authorities of his native state, and in 1840 was set free by a general amnesty.
In 1850 he settled as a private tutor at the little town of Trep tow in Pomerania. Here he married Luise Kunze, the daughter of a Mecklenburg pastor. Reuter's first publication was a collec tion of miscellanies, written in Plattdeutsch, and entitled Lauschen un Riemels ("anecdotes and rhymes," 1853 ; a second collection followed in 1858). There followed Polterabendgedichte (1855), and De Reis' nah Belligen (1855). In 1856 Reuter left Treptow and established himself at Neubrandenburg. His next book (pub lished in 1858) was Kein Hfisung, an epic in which he presents with great force and vividness some of the least attractive aspects of village life in Mecklenburg. This was followed, in 186o, by Hanne Nide un de liitte Pudel, the best of his verse compositions.
In 186o he published the first series of his 011e Kamellen ("old stories of bygone days"), which contained Woans ick tau'ne Fru kam and Ut de Franzosentid. Later volumes were entitled Ut mine Festungstid 0860; Ut mine Stromtid (3 vols. 1864) ; and Diirchliiuchting (1866)—all written in the Plattdeutsch dialect of the author's home. Ut mine Stromtid is by far the greatest of Reuter's writings. Ut de Franzosentid describes the deep national impulse under which Germany rose against Napoleon. Ut mine Stromtid deals with the revolution of 1848.
In 1863 Reuter moved to Eisenach; and here he died on July 12, Reuter's Siimtliche Werke, in 13 vols., were first published in 1863 68. To these were added in 1875 two volumes of Nachgelassene Schriften, with a biography by A. Wilbrandt ; and in 1878 two sup plementary volumes to the works appeared. A popular edition in 7 vols. was published in 1877-78 (new edition, 1902) ; there are also editions by K. F. Muller (18 vols., 19o5), and W. Seelmann (7 vols., 1905-06). See Briefe F. Reuters an seinen Vater, ed. F. Engel (2 vols., 1895) ; A. Romer, F. Reuter in seinem Leben and Schaff en (1895); G. Raatz, Wahrheit and Dichtung in Reuters Werken (1895) ; E. Brandes, Aus F. Reuters Leben (1899) ; K. F. Muller, Der Mecklen burger Volksmund and F. Reuters Schriften (1902). A complete bibl. will be found in the Niederdeutsche Jahrbuch for 1896 and 19o2.