This essay discusses W.G. Sebald’s use of biographical and autobiographical elements in his literary writing. A diachronic overview retraces Sebald’s evolving use of (auto-)biographical elements from After Nature, Vertigo and The Emigrants to The Rings of Saturn and finally Austerlitz. To do so, this essay outlines, firstly, which protagonists are based on real historical figures and which source-material Sebald used for their literary transposition. Secondly, this essay highlights the relationship between the biographies of persons of historical renown – such as writers like Franz Kafka, Vladimir Nabokov and Stendhal – and those biographies taken from Sebald’s private life. These Sebald modelled after the lives of friends and acquaintances. Their inclusion with changed names – such as Paul Bereyter, Max Ferber or Jacques Austerlitz, raise questions concerning the relationship between truth and fiction. A third, central concern is the discussion of Sebald’s literary techniques and the various ways he introduces and intersects (auto-)biographical texts, photos, and illustrations to create a biographical pastiche.