Johann Rietsch (1778 – 10 January 1814) was a German poet, writing in the East Franconian dialect of his native Nuremberg. Rietsch was born in Nuremberg, and trained there as a bellmaker, which was at the time a major industry in the city. He was a younger contemporary of , and inspired by the latter to write poems in the local Nuremberg dialect as well; these were collected in the volume Anekdoten in Nürnberg Mundart ("Anecdotes in the Nuremberg Dialect", 1811), which proved popular enough to run to a second edition. He gained a general reputation locally for his intelligence and education, owing to his poetry, ability at playing the harp, and command of French. He died young, during the Napoleonic Wars: when Russian troops were quartered in Nuremberg in 1813 on their way to France, Riets