Born and raised in Hamburg, Germany, Marion Berghahn studied at the universities of Hamburg, Paris and Freiburg where she received a DPhil in American Studies, Romance Languages and Philosophy. In 1969, she moved to England where she received an MPhil in Social Anthropology from the University of Cambridge, followed by a PhD in Sociology from the University of Warwick. These subjects, together with history, later on formed the basis of her scholarly publishing program, Berghahn Books and Journals.