Otto Dietrich was born in Essen, he served as a soldier during World War I and was awarded the Iron Cross (First Class). Afterwards he studied at the universities of Munich, Frankfurt am Main and Freiburg, from which he graduated with a doctorate in political science in 1921.Berndt, Alfred-Ingemar, "The Importance of Dr. Dietrich’s Lecture"; Dietrich, Otto, The Philosophical Fundamentals of National Socialism A Call to the Weapons of the German Mind, 1934.
