Lothar Herrmann was born in Silesia in 1920 in Silesia. He was enlisted for war at the age of 20. His company had been advancing on Russia when he was diagnosed with asthma and sent back to Germany, where he was able to spend the next two years in recovery in his hometown Garmisch-Partenkirchen. His luck ended abruptly though when he was declared healthy enough to return to the Eastern Front. On the day before his 24th birthday, Herrmann was taken into Russian war captivity in which he stayed long after the war had ended. It was not until 1950 that Herrmann was free to return home where he came down with hepatitis.