David Wittenberg studied comparative literature and philosophy with Theodor W. Adorno and others. In the early 1960s he travelled across the Netherlands, Denmark, France and Switzerland and collected literature by and about German émigrés. He translated from Italian and French into German, wrote for the radio and published book reviews in various newspapers and journals. His writing appeared in Diskus, Links, Ästhetik und Kommunikation and Frankfurter Rundschau. In the late 1960s, he began making documentaries. Wittenberg worked for German public broadcasters, but also produced films independently, like the ones on industrial disputes. In the early 1980s, his work moved towards a unique form of essay film. Wittenberg’s later films deal with the life and work of Baruch Spinoza, Friedrich Nietzsche, Karl Kraus, Friedrich Hölderin, Heinrich Heine, Uwe Johnson and Walter Benjamin. His last film, Walter Benjamin – Geschichten der Freundschaft, was made in 2010.