Dieter Pohl studied history and political science at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich from 1984 to 1990, graduating with a Masters of Arts.

Under the direction of Hans Günter Hockerts [de], he completed his PhD dissertation Nationalsozialistische Judenverfolgung in Ostgalizien 1941–1944 ("Nazi persecution of Jews in Eastern Galicia 1941-1944") in 1995.

Since September 2010, Pohl has served a professor of contemporary history at the Historical Institute at the University of Klagenfurt, with a focus on Eastern and Southeastern Europe.

Pohl testified that Sobibor was a death camp, the sole purpose of which was the killing of Jews, and that all Trawniki men had been generalists involved in guarding the prisoners as well as other duties.

He serves on the advisory board of the Kyiv-based journal Holocaust and Modernity / Holokost i suchasnistʹ ("Голокост і сучасність").