Whakaotihia te rerenga e whai ake nei: I whanau a Ursula Wendorff i Berlin-Moabit, he rohe kei te hauauru-pokapū o Berlin. I ako ia i waenga i te 1937 me te 1943 i te "Meisterschule für Graphik" (akoranga toi) i Berlin, i te wa ano hoki, i tetahi waa, i haere ia ki nga akomanga ahiahi mo te toi me Otto Nagel. Kua whakapumautia e Nagel he ingoa hei kaitoi me te kaiako, engari i mohiotia hoki ko ia he kaitoi Communist o mua, a i whakaarohia e te kawanatanga. Whai muri i tana tukunga mai i te Camp Sachsenhausen i te 1937, i aukatihia ia ki te whakaako, no reira kaore a Wendorff i whakaaetia ki te whakaahua i a ia ano hei "Meisterschulerin" ("kore, "akoako whetu") o Otto Nagel tae noa ki muri i te whiunga o te kaiwhakaako i te whare wananga i te tau 1937.
Ko te tau 1945. Ko ana akomanga toi kore ture me te maestro i tu i roto i te ruuma o muri o te whare haurangi e noho ana hoki i tetahi "ruuma wahine kairau" iti (whare kotahi-ruuma) he painga na te mea kaore i taea te toro mai a nga "rangatira". I waenganui i te 1946 me te 1951 i ako ia i te whare wānanga o Berlin-Weissensee i reira i whakaakona ai ia e, Ernst Rudolf Vogenauer me.