Günther is a German director and screenwriter. He went to a school for locksmiths but in 1944 became a soldier. In 1945, he was captured in the Netherlands but managed to run away. After the war, from 1948 to 1951 he studied German literature and philosophy. He also studied to become a teacher at the Karl Marx University in Leipzig. For a short time, he worked as a teacher and afterwards in a publishing house. He published a collection of poetry, two novels and a short story. In 1958, he started to work as a dramaturge and screenwriter in DEAF Film Studio in Potsdam-Babelsberg (East Germany). He made his directing debut Lots Weib in 1965. In that same year he made his second film Wenn du groß bist, lieber Adam but it was banned and shown for the first time in 1990. Based on literary works, he made his next film Farewell (Abschied, 1968), as well as Lotte in Weimar (1975) and Die Leiden des jungen Werthers (1976). He also directed The Third (Der Dritte, 1972) and Die Schluessel (1973), and after his TV film Ursula (1978) he goes to West Germany where he makes the film Morenga (1985) and several TV films and series. He returned to DEFA in 1989 and made the film Stein (1990). Afterwards he made Rosamunde (1990) starring Anica Dobra and the biographical film Die Braut (1999). He was an active TV director until 2002. Besides directing and writing screenplays, he continued to write and published three novels.