August von Kotzebue, German playwright and author (d. 1819)
August Friedrich Ferdinand von Kotzebue (German: [ˈaʊɡʊst fɔn ˈkɔtsəbuː]; 3 May [O.S. 22 April] 1761 – 23 March [O.S. 11 March] 1819) was a German dramatist and writer who also worked as a consul in Russia and Germany.

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.