Michel Bergmann was born in Riehen, near Basel, in 1945, the child of interned Jewish refugees. He spent his early childhood in Paris and his youth in Frankfurt. After his studies he trained with the Frankfurter Rundschau before working as a journalist, then as a director and producer, and from 1990 on as a screenwriter (his credits include Otto – The Disaster Movie and Bye Bye Germany). In 2010 he published his first novel, Die Teilacher, and eight subsequent volumes. Michel Bergmann passed away in Berlin in 2025.