Hermann Ottomar Friedrich Goedsche (12 February 1815 – 8 November 1878), also known by his pseudonym Sir John Retcliffe, was a German government employee and author who is remembered mainly for his antisemitism.

In 1848 he worked for the newspaper Neue Preußische (Kreuz-)Zeitung, together with famous Germans like Theodor Fontane, Otto von Bismarck and George Hesekiel.

Goedsche main genre of fiction was historical romance, as typified by Sir Walter Scott, Charles Sealsfield and Theodor Mügge, but he was also influenced by authors like Eugène Sue, Alexandre Dumas, père and George Hesekiel.

Several years after Goedsche's death, his novel Biarritz was plagiarized in the antisemitic forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion published at the turn of the twentieth century in the Russian Empire.

Among the methods to achieve this goal are the acquisition of landed property, the transformation of craftsmen into industrial workers, the infiltration into high public offices, the control of the press, and so on.