After the
Abitur in 1914, Tillmanns took part as a soldier in the
First World War. He studied political science from 1919 to 1921, earning a doctorate at the
University of Tübingen. From 1922 to 1930 he served as head of economics at the
German National Association for Student Services and in 1925 operated under the umbrella of the
German National Academic Foundation. From 1931 he worked as a council member in the Prussian Ministry of Culture, from which he was dismissed for political reasons in 1933. He then worked until 1945 in mining industry management in central Germany. After the war he was Secretary General of the Agency of the
Evangelical Church in Germany until 1949. Tillmanns was married to since 1925 Naegelsbach Herta (1904–1995) and had three daughters. == Politics ==