Freytag

Freytag, Gustav (1816-1895),German novelist and dramatist, was born at Kreuzburg, Silesia.

From 1839 till 1847 he was a professor of German at Breslau, and was for many years a journalist at Leipzig. He is the greatest of German novelists, his chief works of this kind being Soil und Haben (Debit and Credit), a picture of mercantile life; The Lost Manuscript, and the series called Die Ahnen (Our Ancestors). Among his plays, Die Journalisten, is the best known. Freytag was a deputy to the North German Diet, served in the Franco-Prussian War, and in 1886 was made a Geheimrath (Privy Councillor) of Coburg-Gotha.