On the occasion of Wolfgang Hildesheimer's 100th birthday on December 9, 2016: The first comprehensive biography of one of the most important authors after 1945. Wolfgang Hildesheimer is not only one of the most significant German writers of the post-war period, but he was also a central voice of the politically engaged bourgeoisie. As the son of Jewish parents, he left Germany in 1933 for England and Palestine. After the war, he worked as a simultaneous interpreter at the Nuremberg war crimes trials and became a member of Group 47. Stephan Braese traces the biographical milestones and places Hildesheimer's work and life in the context of history and discourse. Hildesheimer's multicultural experience, his emphatic commitment to psychoanalysis, his experiments with a fusion of literature, music, and visual arts, as well as his stance on society are illuminated.