Career
Dissel"s began working as a newspaper photographer in the late 1920s. Dissel was caught and imprisoned from 1937 to 1939. During his time in prison, the Gestapo arranged for Boysen to visit him, in the hope that something incriminating would be said while the two would be left alone in a tapped room.
Boysen passed a cigarette pack to Dissel, on which he wrote that the police had no concrete evidence against him.
After his release, Boysen convinced him to volunteer into the Wehrmacht, so he could "destroy Hitler"s army from within". Dissel joined the armed forces shortly before the German Invasion of Poland, and served in a military meteorology unit
At 1942, he barely avoided an arrest during the Gestapo"s crackdown on the Red Orchestra. After the war, he openly joined the KPD and decided to pursue his old dream to become an actor.
Dissel joined a cabaret in Wiesbaden, and in 1950 emigrated to East Germany.
There he appeared in numerous plays, television shows and movies. He worked with the Berliner Ensemble, DEFA and DFF. He continued his acting career after the reunification. In total, he appeared in more than a hundred film and television productions.