Peggy Piesche was born in Arnstadt (Thuringia) in what in 1968 was the German Democratic Republic. From 1974 to 1984 she attended a polytechnic high school in Arnstadt, then she graduated with Abitur (the high school diploma in Germany qualifying students for university) at the Gotha-Friedrichswerth vocational school. Starting in 1987 Piesche studied to become a teacher of German and Russian at the pedagogical high school in Erfurt/Mühlhausen. During that time, she did one semester abroad in Smolensk (USSR). Piesche moved to Tübingen after the fall of the Berlin wall. Once there, starting in 1990, she studied contemporary German literature, ancient history and philosophy. She graduated with a Master of Art’s degree in 1995.