Gitta Nickel was born on May 28, 1936 in Briensdorf, East Prussia. After graduating from high school, Nickel studied Education and German at the Humboldt University in Berlin. Nickel later became an assistant director of popular science films at the DEFA studios. After 1959, she worked as an assistant director to Joachim Kunert, Ralf Kirsten, and Konrad Wolf at the DEFA Studios for Feature Films. Nickel became a documentary filmmaker at the DEFA Documentary Film Studio in 1965. Her documentaries are reflections and reports on daily life in East Germany.

Filmography

Harvesting Weather (Heuwetter) 1972; Paul Dessau, 1974; Konrad Wolf, 1977; Gundula –Born in '58 (Gundula – Jahrgang 58) 1982; When You Have Someone To Love (Wenn man eine Liebe hat) 1986; Like A Fish In Water (Wie ein Fisch im Wasser) 1987; Two Germans (Zwei Deutsche) 1988; Feel The Wind Against Your Skin (Den Wind auf der Haut spueren) 1989; A German Story – We Broke through the Wall (Eine deutsche Geschichte – wir haben die Mauer durchbrochen) 1990; István Szabó, 1993; That Was the GDR (Das war die DDR) 1993; Shalom Comrade (Schalom Genossen) 1996; Between the Fronts (Zwischen den Fronten) 1996.