Reuter, FRITZ, German humorist, was born at Stavenhagen ('Stenlhagen') in Mecklenburg-Schwerin, on 7th November 1810. His father, the burgomaster, sent him to Rostock and Jena to study law. But in 1833 he was arrested and condemned to death—in common with other members of the Jena Burschenschaft (q.v.) Germania he had indulged in wild students' talk about the fatherland and national unity; that was his only offence. The capital sentence was, however, commuted to one of thirty years' imprisonment. Young Reuter was dragged from one fortress prison to another in Silesia, Prussia, and Mecklenburg, and often subjected to great hardships and even wanton cruelty, and did not regain his freedom until Frederick-William IV. ascended the throne of Prussia in 1840. Although a general amnesty gave him back his liberty after seven years of imprisonment, his career was spoiled and his health incurably ruined; an affection of the stomach created in him an abnormal craving for strong drink, which he never conquered. It was eleven years more before he settled down to his life's work. His father, a stern and severe man, having in the meantime turned his back upon him as a good-for-nothing, he tried to resume his legal studies, learned farming, taught pupils, but lived chiefly on the kindness of a friend and on a small annuity left him by his father, who died in 1845. Reuter began to write first in High German; but having thrown into rough verse form, in Low German, the jokes and merry tales of the countryside, he published them—Läuschen un Rímels (1853; 18th ed. 1889), and the book became at once a great favourite with all who spoke and read Low German. Two years later he wrote an equally successful Low German poem, Reis' nah Belligen (12th ed. 1884), describing in broad humorous fashion the journey of certain peasants to Belgium in search of culture. The next seven years (1856–63), passed at Nenbrandenburg, were the period in which he wrote his greatest books. The first of these were a second volume of Läuschen un Rímels (1858; 15th ed. 1889), and the deeply tragic poem Kein Hüsung (1858; 11th ed. 1891), picturing the wretchedness of the semi-serfs on the great Mecklenburg domains. The rest, except Hanne Nüte (1860; 13th ed. 1884), a poetic narrative in which birds figure prominently as speaking characters, were all written in prose in Low German (Platt-Deutsch), and were published under the general title of Olle Kamellen, which may be given in English as Old-time Stories. These books, more especially Ut de Franzosentid (1860; 17th ed. 1891; Eng. trans. as The Year '13, 1873), Ut mine Festungstid (1862; 15th ed. 1891), and his masterpiece, Ut mine Stromtid (1862–64; 17th ed. 1891), spread Reuter's fame abroad through all Germany, and lifted him to the proud position of Germany's greatest humorist next after Jean Paul; as a literary artist he ranks in many respects above Jean Paul. These tales have the indubitable flavour of real life: they deal with the characters and doings of rural Mecklenburg, are told with the verve of the born story-teller, and are bathed in the purest and sunniest humour. Like every true humorist, Reuter is master of a tender pathos. Uncle Bräsig in Stromtid is one of the greatest creations of German literature. The best witness to Reuter's own character is the history he wrote (Ut mine Festungstid) of the miserable seven years he spent in prison: the book has not one word of bitterness or a single trace of revengeful feeling throughout; good-nature and humour are its dominant notes. Besides the works quoted, Reuter also wrote Schurr Murr (1861; 11th ed. 1886), sketches of country life, partly autobiographical; Dörchläüchtling (1866; 11th ed. 1886), a kind of humorous historical novel; the satirical Urgeschicht von Meckelnborg (1874), and others. Reuter lived at Eisenach in Thuringia, at the foot of the Wartburg, from 1863 till his death on 12th July 1874.
His Sämtliche Werke were published in 13 vols. at Wismar in 1863–68; to these Adolf Wilbrandt added two more in 1875, together with a biography. The 7 volumes of a popular edition (1877–78) have each gone through several editions. Other biographies of him have been written by Glagau (2d ed. 1875) and Ebert (1874). See also Gaedertz, Fritz-Reuter-Reliquien (1885) and Reuter Studien (1890), and consult McCallum's Studies in Low German Literature (1884).