Schlamm was born into an upper middle class Jewish family in Przemyśl, Galicia, in the Austrian Empire.
He became a Communist early in life, and when he was 16 years old was invited to the Kremlin to meet Vladimir Lenin.
After completing secondary school, he became a writer with the Vienna Communist newspaper, Die Rote Fahne.
Later, Schlamm moved to the United States, where he worked for Henry Luce, the publisher of Life, Time and Fortune magazines.
"[8] After World War II, he worked as journalist for German newspaper Die Welt.