This novelist and journalist was born in Lyck, a small town in East Prussia, son of a Customs officer. As a participant in the German Army toward the end of World War II, during the post-war he studied Philosophy at Hamburg University, and later began working in journalism, at the Die Welt newspaper and as a commentator on radio and television. He also began teaching and writing; he formed part of Group 47.

Some of his novels include Es Waren Habichte in der Luft (1951), So zärtlich war Suleyken (1955), German Lesson (1968) and The Usurperer (1987), among others; plays such as The Face (1963) or Inspector Told; and short stories or nouvelles, a genre in which he was exceptionally brilliant.

His style combines the technique of retrospective analysis with an ironic point of view, suspense and introspection, elements that he uses to analyze themes such as heroism, guilt and duty, evidence of a generation marked by wounds inflicted by national-socialism.