Complex sentence: Spielhagen was brought up at Stralsund, where his father was in 1835 appointed a government architect; he attended the gymnasium there, studied law, and subsequently literature and philosophy at the universities of Berlin, Bonn and Greifswald.
Split into simpler sentences: Spielhagen was brought up at Stralsund, where his father was appointed a government architect in 1835. He attended the Gymnasium (roughly equivalent to american high school) in Stralsund, studied law, and subsequently literature and philosophy at the universities of Berlin, Bonn and Greifswald.