The Early Life of Gerhard Richter Dresden, Germany, 1932. The setting is the Hospital Dresden-Neustadt. Gerhard Richter enters a world defined by the tightening grip of National Socialism. His father, Horst Richter, navigates the academic rigor of the Technische Hochschule in Dresden as a student of mathematics and physics. His mother, Hildegard Schönfelder, works as a bookseller. The household is shaped by these disparate intellectual and commercial pursuits. In 1936, the family expands with the birth of his sister, Gisela. War and political upheaval fracture the family's stability. The sh…