The New International Encyclopædia/Putlitz, Gustav Heinrich Gans, Edler von and zu

PUTLITZ, put′lĭts, Gustav Heinrich Gans, Edler von and zu (1821-90). A German dramatist and novelist, born March 20, 1821, at Retzin, Brandenburg. He studied law in Berlin and Heidelberg. From 1846 to 1848 he was a functionary in the Government of Magdeburg, and thereafter he lived partly on his estate at Retzin, partly in Berlin. In 1863 he became director of the Court Theatre in Schwerin; from 1867 to 1868 he was Court marshal of the Prussian Crown Prince, after which he devoted himself to literature, dwelling in Berlin. Between 1873 and 1889 he managed the Court Theatre in Karlsruhe. Among his works are the poetic fairy stories Was sich der Wald erzählt (1850), Walpurgis (1869), and Vergissmeinnicht (1853); two plays much read in American schools, Badekuren and Das Herz vergessen; and the dramas Das Testament des Grossen Kurfürsten (1858) and Rolf Berndt (1881). Consult Gustav zu Putlitz, ein Lebensbild, by his widow, Elisabeth (Berlin, 1894-95).