Rediess was born in Heinsberg, Rhine Province, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire, the son of a court employee.

In June 1918, he enlisted in the German Army during the First World War and served as an infantryman until the armistice in November 1918.

At the onset of the Second World War, Rediess was responsible for implementing German racial laws in Prussia.

Ultimately, 8,000 children were born under the auspices of the program, which made Norway second only to Germany in registered Aryan births during the war.

[5] His remains were destroyed on the same day that Terboven killed himself by detonating fifty kilograms of dynamite in a bunker on the Skaugum compound.