Gregor Samarow

Gregor Samarow was the pseudonym of Oskar Meding (1828/1829–1903), a German civil servant, diplomat, memoirist, and novelist. He was born in Königsberg and studied law in Königsberg, Heidelberg, and Berlin before working in Prussian service and then in the government of Hanover.

Meding became closely involved with Hanoverian political life and remained associated with the exiled Hanoverian court after Prussia annexed Hanover in 1866. Alongside that public career, he wrote extensively under several pen names, with Gregor Samarow becoming the best known.

Under that name, he published many historical and political novels, often drawing on contemporary events and the power struggles of his time. Though not as widely read today, he was a notable bestselling author in late 19th-century Germany, remembered for turning politics, diplomacy, and recent history into popular fiction.