When Marseille was still a young child his parents divorced and his mother subsequently married a police official named Reuter. Marseille initially assumed the name of his stepfather at school (a matter he had a difficult time accepting) but he reverted to his father's name of Marseille in adulthood. A lack of discipline gave him a reputation as a rebel, which plagued him early on in his Luftwaffe career. Marseille also had a difficult relationship with his natural father, with whom he refused to visit in Hamburg for some time after the divorce. Eventually he attempted a reconciliation with his father, who subsequently introduced him to the nightlife that initially hampered his military career during his early years in the Luftwaffe. However, the rapprochement with his father did not last and he did not see him again. Marseille attended a "Volksschule" in Berlin (1926–1930), and from the age of 10, the Prinz Heinrich Gymnasium in Berlin-Schöneberg (1930–1938). Between April and September 1938, he served in the Reich Labour Service.