Dietmar was born in Preußisch Holland, East Prussia in 1935. When he was 10 years old, on January 22, 1945, Dietmar, his mother and his three siblings fled their hometown in an abandoned Wehrmacht vehicle, with three other families fleeing the allied bombing of Berlin.
They stopped in many European cities, that had been recently bombed such as Hamburg, Dresden, Prague, Styria, Salzburg and Coburg, eventually settling in Munich. During the next few years, and after the war had ended, he learned typesetting in Passau at the "Neue Passauer Presse". He remained in the art world and continued his studies at the Academy of Graphic Arts in Munich.
He was forced to quit his studies due to a serious accident in Seville, Spain where he spent 2 years recovering in the hospital.
In the early 1960s he moved to the island of Crete in Greece, where he settled, and lived for many years. Later on, he was forced by the military Junta to leave Greece – moving to Sardinia.
After the fall of the Junta, he returned to Crete. Extensive tourist development on the island caused him to want to leave again, at which point he moved to the small village of Lafkos on the mountain of Pelion, where he built a home and studio, beginning to paint and to create sculptures once again.
He spent many years living in Lafkos, in various places in Upper Bavaria and Denmark.
He lived a solitary, yet creative life, producing a high volume of artwork. He died at Volos hospital at the age of 76, on October 22, 2011.
