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Horst Bienek (May 7, 1930, Gleiwitz – December 7, 1990, Munich) was a German novelist.

Bienek was born in Gleiwitz, Germany (today in Poland). He was forced to leave Gleiwitz in 1945, when the use of the German language was forbidden in Silesia. He resettled in the eastern part of Germany. For a time, he was taught by Bertolt Brecht. In 1951, he was arrested by NKVD and sentenced to 25 years of labour in Vorkuta (a gulag). He was released on the power of an amnesty in 1955. He settled in West Germany.

Bienek was the winner of numerous prizes, including the Nelly Sachs Prize in 1981. His best-known work is the four-volume series of novels dealing with the prelude to World War II and the war itself, Gleiwitz, Eine oberschlesische Chronik in vier Romanen (ISBN 3423127732).

Three of his works were adapted for film:

• Die Zelle (1970)
• Die erste Polka (1979)
• Schloß Königswald (1987).

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This author page uses material from the Wikipedia article "Horst Bienek", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0