Wilhelm Paul was born in Berlin in 1914. He settled in Upper Franconia (Bavaria) where he lived with his wife after studying education, fighting in WWI, imprisonment and expulsion from Silesia. For many years he worked as a primary school teacher in Kulmbach-Burghaig and temporarily as a music teacher at the girls' grammar school in Kulmbach. In Burghaig he conducted the church choir. His primary instrument was the violin and his wife played the recorder. Both of them sang in the church choir, visited music camps and played music with friends.