[4] Passing her Abitur (school final exams) opened the way for a university-level education: between 1956 and 1959 Hahnemann studied at the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts in Berlin-Niederschöneweide.

[7] In 1959 she made her stage debut with Die Pfeffermühle (literally, "The Pepper Mill"), a mildly edgy cabaret ensemble established five years earlier in Leipzig.

[2] She found Leipzig did not suit her, however, and returned in 1961 or 1962 to Berlin,[1] where she concentrated on cabaret and comedy genres, working on a freelance basis, primarily with one-woman programmes.

Where the dream team needed a new tune, the composer Arndt Bause would produce another from his apparently endless stream of new dance music melodies.

[10] Another much loved programme which Hahnemann regularly presented was Ein Kessel Buntes, a Saturday evening television variety show.

She performed with actor-comedians such as Alfred Müller, Herbert Köfer, Dagmar Gelbke and Ingeborg Naß in a wide variety of television comedy sketches.

[3] She appeared regularly alongside Rolf Herricht, Gerd E. Schäfer, Margot Ebert, Traute Sense and Heinz Behrens in her role as "Erna Mischke" in the long-running light-hearted television drama series Maxe Baumann.

Of particular note in this context was the use of her voice for Yvonne Jensen, the main female protagonist in the popular German-language versions for 3 of the 14 (filmed in Danish) Olsen Gang movies.