August von Kotzebue

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August Friedrich Ferdinand von Kotzebue
Born	(1761-05-03)3 May 1761 Weimar, Saxe-Weimar, Holy Roman Empire (now Thuringia, Germany)
Died	23 March 1819(1819-03-23) (aged 57) Mannheim, Grand Duchy of Baden, German Confederation (now Baden-Württemberg, Germany)
Resting place	Mannheim
Occupation	Writer
Language	German
Nationality	Saxe-Weimar  Russian Empire
Alma mater	University of Duisburg

August Friedrich Ferdinand von Kotzebue (German: [ˈaʊɡʊst fɔn ˈkɔtsəbuː], Russian: Евстафий Леонтьевич Коцебу, romanized: Yevstafiy Leontyevich Kotsebu; 3 May [O.S. 22 April] 1761 – 23 March [O.S. 11 March] 1819) was a German playwright, who had also worked as a Russian diplomat.

In 1817, one of Kotzebue's books was burned during the Wartburg festival. He was murdered in 1819 by Karl Ludwig Sand, a militant member of the Burschenschaften. This murder gave Metternich the pretext to issue the Carlsbad Decrees of 1819, which dissolved the Burschenschaften, cracked down on the liberal press, and seriously restricted academic freedom in the states of the German Confederation.