Alder was born in the industrial area of Königshütte, Silesia (modern day Chorzów, Upper Silesia, Poland). He received his early schooling there. Alder left the area for political reasons when Königshütte became part of Poland in 1922. He studied chemistry at the University of Berlin from 1922, and later at the University of Kiel where his earned a PhD in 1926 for work supervised by Diels.