Her mother was the daughter of engineer Thies Peter Lau (1844-1933) and Walewska Berta Anna Artelt (1856-1943).
Hunke received her Ph.D. in Germanic philology at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in 1941 under the supervision of Otto Höfler.
She subsequently worked as an assistant to the historian Ernst Anrich and philologist Siegfried Gutenbrunner at Reichsuniversität Straßburg.
After World War II, Hunke returned to her hometown of Kiel, where she made a fortune as a publisher and bookstore owner.
She donated large sums to the University of Kiel, particularly for the purpose of supporting female academics.