Paetel was born on 23 November 1906 in
Berlin. He attended the
Siemens-Oberrealschule where he got involved in the youth group. He later studied at the
Friedrich-Wilhelm University of Berlin. The latter group was established in 1930 due to his disillusionment with the Nazi Party, a group he had hitherto been well disposed towards, as he felt that their revolutionary rhetoric was insincere and that their essential nature was conservative. Nonetheless, he felt that the Nazi Party still contained "useful" revolutionary elements and was particularly active in attempting to win over members of the Hitler Youth to his side. In 1930 he became co-editor of
Die Kommenden with prominent nationalist
Ernst Jünger. After escaping from internment by the French police in May 1940, he fled via southern France to Spain, and then to New York. There, he resumed his journalistic activities and worked as a correspondent. In 1943, he married his fiancée Elisabeth Zerner. After the war, he edited the magazine
Deutsche Gegenwart and wrote about Jünger. In 1975, he died in
Forest Hills, Queens, in
New York City. == Publications ==