Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg
Kirsch was born in Döbeln in 1934. After graduating from high school, he studied history at the Klosterschule Roßleben and philosophy at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg and the University of Jena in 1953. In 1957 he was relegated, and in 1958 he was expelled from the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). After that, he worked as a laborer in a print shop, as a chemical worker, and in agriculture.