[2] Korte was born in Meppen, where he successfully concluded his schooling and his Community Service in 1968 before moving on to Münster University, where between 1969 and 1972 he studied History, Sociology and German Studies.
His doctorate, entitled "War in the poetry of expressionism" ("Der Krieg in der Lyrik des Expressionismus"), for which he was supervised by Paul Gerhard Klussmann, followed in 1979.
Between 1990 and 2001 he was chief Director of Studies at the Leibnitz Grammar School in Gelsenkirchen, and at the same time a member of the school's German Curriculum commission.
He had a teaching contract with the University of Duisburg-Essen from 1993 till 2001 and also engaged in private tuition after gaining his "Habilitation" qualification in 1996.
[2] Other focuses of his work included nineteenth and twentieth century literature, literary expressionism, the history of poetry, post-war German literature and the works of Kurt Tucholsky.