Garlieb Merkel

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Garlieb Helwig Merkel (October 31, 1769 - May 9, 1850) was a German Latvian writer and activist.

Merkel was born into the family of a rural priest in Livonia. From the age of 17 he worked as a tutor for upper-class families. In 1790 he joined the circle of Riga intellectuals. Influenced by the ideas he found there, he published the book Die Letten ("Latvians") in 1794, which described in the darkest terms the life of the peasantry and the atrocities of the German landowners and called upom the Russian government to intervene and ameliorate the lot of the Latvian people.

Merkel's book caused a storm of anger among the landowners of Latvia, and Merkel was forced into exile. He moved to Weimar, then in 1800 to Berlin, where was was the co-editor with August von Kotzebue of the weekly Der Freimutige (1803-1806).

In 1816 Merkel returned to Latvia. He published the book My Ten Years in Germany (1818) and Images and Characters from My Life (two volumes, 1839-1840). He also wrote the pamphlet Free Latvians and Estonians (1820) which was published in Leipzig.

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