After growing up in East Prussia, his parents were deported to the Soviet Union, while he was expelled to Schleswig-Holstein. Having finished his school education there, he was apprenticed to a lawyer from 1950 to 1953.
He lived in Canada from 1957 to 1960, but then came back to Germany, where he worked for an insurance company from 1962 until 1972.
Since 1972, apart from writing, he has been working as a journalist, specialising in economy and insurance. His fame is mainly due to his novels, the principal themes of which are his recollections of a happy childhood and the fate of the deportees; he has no interest however in revenge, but only wants to preserve his childhood memories. Several of his books were used for TV productions.
Since 2001, he has been working as an ombudsman in the field of health insurance.
Books by Surminski
Jokehnen oder Wie lange fährt man von Ostpreußen nach Deutschland? ISBN3-550-08328-9
Aus dem Nest gefallen
Kudenow oder An fremden Wassern weinen
Fremdes Land oder Als die Freiheit noch zu haben war
Wie Königsberg im Winter
Polninken oder Eine deutsche Liebe
Grunowen oder das vergangene Leben
Gewitter im Januar
Malojawind. Eine Liebesgeschichte
Aus dem Leben eines Buchhändlers
Das dunkle Ende des Regenbogens
Damals in Poggenwalde
Kein schöner Land
Besuch aus Stralsund
Sommer 44 oder Wie lange fährt man von Deutschland nach Ostpreußen?
