Heinz-Joachim Fischer was - on 6 - in a Berlin family with roots in Thuringia and Silesia June 1944 Meseritz today Miedzyrzecz, born east of Frankfurt an der Oder. In 1963 he presented at the grammar school, "Canisius College" in Berlin from the high school. As a member of the Collegium Germanicum he studied at the Gregorian University, the International, run by Jesuit Pontifical University in Rome, philosophy and theology. He also attended the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich. In 1970 he earned a licentiate in theology in Rome in 1973 and Phil with a religio-philosophical work of Dr.. PhD. After a few months ago at Munich in September 1974 he joined Mercury in the political editor of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. In May 1975 his reporting on the Catholic Church has been entrusted.