Reichwein studied at the universities of Frankfurt am Main und Marburg, under Hugo Sinzheimer and Franz Oppenheimer, among others.

It was he who founded the Volkshochschule ("People's High School" - e.g., Community College) and the Arbeiterbildungsheim ("Workers' Training Home") in Jena and ran them until 1929.

Reichwein described in his work Schaffendes Schulvolk ("Productive School People") his instructional concept, inspired by the Wandervogel movement and labour-school pedagogy, whose main focus was on trips, activity-oriented instruction with school gardens, and projects spanning age groups.

For Sachunterricht (~field education, or practical learning) and its history, he included important historical documents.

In early July 1944, Reichwein was arrested by the Gestapo, and, in a trial against Julius Leber, Hermann Maaß and Gustav Dahrendorf, sentenced to death by Roland Freisler's Volksgerichtshof.