Born Anna Therese Johanne Höch in Gotha, Germany, Hannah first began taking glass design and graphic art classes at the college of Applied Arts in Berlin in 1912, before dropping out during the outbreak of WWI in 1914. She worked at Red Cross in her hometown before returning to study art in Berlin in 1915, where she met artist and writer Raoul Hausmann, a member of the Berlin Dada movement. The group was composed of mostly male artists, who satirized and critiqued German culture and society during the crumbling Weimar republic era after WWI.