His left his school early due to shortage of money, and at the age of 17 he started an apprenticeship as a baker.

Later Strittmatter worked as baker, waiter, chauffeur, zookeeper and unskilled laborer.

In October 1939 he volunteered to the Schutzpolizei,[2] in March 1941 he was drafted into the Ordnungspolizei, He served in the Order Police Battalion Nr.

of the Polizei-Gebirgsjäger-Regiment 18 [3] Strittmatter completed courses in anti-partisan warfare and was deployed in Slovenia, Finland und Greece.

[7] His 1963 novel Ole Bienkopp was the first widely read work of literature in East Germany to break the constraints of Socialist Realism and offer a tragic hero who criticized representatives of the ruling Socialist Unity Party in the course of the novel.