Hans Günther Merk was born in Münchwald in the administrative district of Bad Kreuznach on 13 September 1930.
After obtaining his university entrance qualification in 1950, he studied law in Mainz. In 1954, he passed the first, and in 1958 the second state examination in law.
From 1958 to 1959, Hans Günther Merk worked as a lawyer and judge at the local court in Koblenz. In 1959, he joined the Federal Ministry of the Interior, where he served for 35 years in various functions, among other things, in the areas of sports and the media, data processing in public administration, and population issues. In the late 1960s, in the sports department of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, he was involved in the preparation of the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.
Mr. Merk was entrusted with conducting the European election of 12 June 1994 (for the first time Union citizens were entitled to vote in the country in which they lived) and the Bundestag election of 16 October 1994.
