Klaus Groth was highly acclaimed during his lifetime as a re-creator of a Low German literary language that had been virtually extinct since the late Middle Ages. A late Romantic, he showed his fellow Schleswig-Holsteiners their cultural identity, eventually strengthening their resistance against the Danish occupation. Groth later shifted his allegiance to Otto von Bismarck's vision of a unified Germany.

Klaus Johann Groth was born on 24 April 1819 in Heide, the capital of the Schleswig-Holstein province of Dithmarschen, to Hartwig Groth and Anna Christina Groth, née Lindemann. His father owned a windmill, a carpentry shop, a small farm, and a grain store. Groth's industrious father was the model for the steadfast Dithmarschen citizen portrayed in his poems. Groth's brother, Johannes, was born on 22 December 1822. Groth's grandfather instilled in him an appreciation of his native region by reciting local poetry and folklore.

In 1825 Groth attended Mrs. Meinung's elementary...