In World War II, he served in the German army, on the Western and Eastern Fronts. While on , he passed the German state exams to become a teacher. He got severe frostbite on the Eastern Front at the end of 1942, so he became an "Offizier für wehrgeistige Führung" (political officer) at the anti-aircraft artillery school in Altenstadt, near Schongau, Bavaria.