Walter Ehrengott Trautzsch was born at Lengefeld, a small industrial town in the mining region south of Chemnitz, and close to the frontier with Bohemia. His parents worked in the weaving trade. His father is also described as a building worker in at least one source. Walter was the sixth of his parents' seven recorded children. On leaving school, Walter Trautzch successfully completed an apprenticeship in industrial metal forming ("als "Metalldrücker""), which was the trade from which he would earn his living, working in various German towns and cities, till 1929. He joined the recently formed Communist Party in June 1923, and participated in the Hamburg Uprising in October of that year. That led to his imprisonment, but he was released in December 1923. He spent six months in Switzerland, but then in 1926 found work closer to home, in Chemnitz. In 1929 his period as an itinerant labourer came to an end when he returned to Lengefeld. A period of unemployment followed, as Germany was badly impacted the backwash from the Wall Street Crash.