Dorothee Rätsch (also spelled Raetsch; born 1940 in Heilsberg, today Lidzbark Warmiński, Poland) is a German sculptor and graphic artist,[1] the daughter of Margarete Neumann, a writer and poet.

Her Mother, widowed in World War II, worked as a welfare worker.

In child and youth courses Dorothee Rätsch started early, to engage with the visual arts.

After an entrance examination, Dorothee Rätsch was accepted and became a member of the Association of Artists of the GDR (Verband Bildender Künstler der DDR) in 1971.

Today Dorothee Rätsch lives and works in Passentin (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern), where they 1994–1999 built up the Slavic Village Passentin, as an authentic early medieval place of learning and experience (Idea, concept planning and oversee the construction: Dorothee Rätsch).