Mihai Pelin was born towards the end of August 1940 in Cernăuți, which had been occupied by the Soviet Union two months earlier. His father, Spiridon, was a railway worker while his mother was a housewife, and a part of his family had Polish and German roots. During World War II, Pelin spent his time with his grandmother in Bessarabia along with German troops, before leaving for Bucharest in 1944.