Johann Gottfried Richter (1763 - 1829)

Johann Gottfried Richter

Johann Gottfried Richter was a German journalist and translator.

Without finishing his studies at the University of Leipzig, Richter in 1787 went to Moscow to work as a governess. Soon he mastered the Russian language well and thanks to his literary abilities made acquaintances with publishers and writers, in particular, with Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin.

After spending 16 years in Russia, Richter returned to Germany in 1803 and, at Karamzin's request, became an advisor to Duke Carl August and Imperial Counselor for Russia. In 1808 he moved to Eilenburg, where he spent the last two decades of his life.

Richter was an important conduit of Russian culture in Europe, refuting European perceptions of Russians as slumbering savages. In collaboration with the illustrator Christian Gottfried Heinrich Geisler, he described Russian manners and customs and translated Karamzin's works, Russian fairy tales and poems into German. Together with the Riga publisher Johann Friedrich Hartnoch the Younger, Richter published the journal Russian Miscellaneous, from which European readers learned about the Russian way of life, the history and geography of the Russian Empire, and Russian literature.