Hannes Nikel was born April 13, 1931, in Munich. In 1952, he started to work as an assistant editor for Peter Ostermayr at Bavaria studios and participated in Max Ophuels" film "Lola Montès" in 1955. During the 1960s, he worked as a film editor for Rainer Erler"s TV movies "Sonderurlaub" (1962), "Seelenwanderung" (1962), and "Orden für die Wunderkinder" ("Honours for Sale", 1963) and also took over the part of the assistant director. Nikel also served as one of the editors of the cult TV series "Raumpatrouille" ("Space Patrol", 1966). In 1976, he collaborated with Wolfgang Petersen for the first time for the TV movie "Vier gegen die Bank". In 1978, they worked together for "Die Konsequenz" ("The Consequence"). During those years, Nikel also photographed two films by director Robert van Ackeren, "Das andere Lächeln" ("The Other Smile", 1979) und "Die Reinheit des Herzens" ("Purity of Heart", 1980).

After the huge success of "Das Boot" ("The Boat"), that won him a nomination for the Academy award, Nikel also participated in Petersen"s films "Enemy Mine" (1983) und "Shattered" (1991). He won the Bavarian film award for his editing of Joseph Vilsmaier"s "Stalingrad" (1993). Nikel then also edited Vilsmaier"s film "Charlie & Louise – Das doppelte Lottchen" (1994). In 1998, Nikel edited his last film, "Cascadeur – Die Jagd nach dem Bernsteinzimmer" ("Cascadeur – The Amber Chamber"). His brother Thomas also worked as a film editor and was in charge of the editing of the Gibraltar complex – mainly the depth bomb attacks – in "Das Boot". Later, Hannes Nikel made a significant contribution to the director"s cut version of "Das Boot" that Wolfgang Petersen finished in the USA.

Hannes Nikel died on September 26, 2001, in Munich.