| Hans Richter | |
| Fictional Character | |
| 1632 series POD: May, 1631 | |
| Appearance(s): | 1632, 1633 |
| Type of Appearance: | Direct |
| Nationality: | Germany |
| Date of Birth: | 1613 |
| Date of Death: | October 9th, 1633 |
| Cause of Death: | Plane crash |
| Relatives: | Gretchen Richter (sister), Veronica Richter Dreeson (grandmother) |
| Created by: | Eric Flint |
Hans Richter was the younger brother of Gretchen Richter, the first down-timer pilot, and a martyr to post-Ring of Fire German nationalism.
Before Grantville[]
Like his sister and his grandmother, Veronica, Hans was sucked up into the Thirty Years' War, and was for a time, was one of the followers of Ernst Hoffman. After a period as a forced camp follower, Richter agreed to become a soldier under the command of Ludwig. While he had no taste for the work at all, being a soldier had certain privileges, foremost of which would be protection of his family. Gretchen had already become Ludwig's concubine. However, his other sister, Annalise, had just turned fourteen, and so desirable for forced prostitution. So Hans bore the burden, fighting in battle and drinking himself into a stupor to avoid having to rape the mercenaries' victims.
Citizen of Grantville[]
Richter was part of the initial tercio at the Battle of the Crapper. By luck, Richter survived the battle when Ludwig was ripped to pieces by the American firearms, and fell back on Richter. Although Richter was injured in a bad way when his sister found him again, having sustained a bullet wound himself, he did live after medical care from Grantville.
After he and his family were rescued by American Jeff Higgins, Hans became entrenched in Grantville society. He went to work at a newspaper owned by Mr. Kindred, and was very pleased to become a printer, rather than a mercenary. He read much of the propaganda being printed by the newpaper, and found he liked the ideas behind most it.
Battle of Grantville[]
Hans and sister participated in defending Grantville from a Croat raid. He was in downtown after the portion of the raiders were massacred by the town's residents. After Gretchen commandeered a bus, Hans, claiming that he could drive anything, got behind the wheel and drove Gretchen, Dan Frost, and a troop of police officers to Grantville High School which was being attacked by the raiders. During the drive, Hans ran down any unfortunate raiders who were standing in his way.
Ostend War[]
In 1633, Hans became the first German aircraft pilot, capturing the imagination of the common German townsmen and peasants and proving that the New United States government was indeed for all the people, not just up-timers. He also became engaged to up-timer Sharon Nichols.
Hans died heroically attacking the combined Danish-French fleet in the Battle of Wismar in 1633. He was fatally wounded by arms fire from a ship below. He also believed his friend Eddie Cantrell had been killed. Dying, Hans ran his plane into a Danish ship.
With this death, Hans Richter became the first national hero of the new emerging German Nationalistic mindset. News of his death nearly inspired commoners to riot and rebel against the German princes and up-timers. However, after Mike Stearns calmed the situation, he used the unrest as leverage to reach a new accommodation with Gustavus Adolphus, creating the new Sweden-led empire: the United States of Europe.