He grew up as the son of the lawyer Kurt Genscher and the farmer's daughter Hilde Kreimein in Reideburg, then in nearby Halle, where the family moved in 1933. In 1943 he was drafted into the Second World War as an anti-aircraft assistant after leaving school at a high school in Halle. He was later deployed in the Reich Labor Service and again in military service in 1945. He was temporarily taken prisoner by the Americans, but was able to return to Halle immediately after the end of the war. There he initially made ends meet as an unskilled worker. In 1946 Genscher obtained his high school diploma. In the following 10 years, Genscher battled tuberculosis, which forced him to be hospitalized frequently. At the same time, he began studying law in Halle in 1946, which he later continued in Leipzig. After the first state law examination, Genscher worked as a court trainee in Halle from 1949 to 1952. In the meantime, the division of Germany had been sealed by the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic. Genscher moved to the Federal Republic, where he completed his studies at the University of Hamburg in 1954 with the second state examination.

Genscher's political commitment, which began in 1946 when he joined the Liberal Democratic Party, led him to the FDP in the West in 1952. In addition to his work as a lawyer in Bremen, he became involved with the local Young Democrats from 1954 onwards. From 1956 he dedicated himself to politics full-time: He initially worked in Bonn for the FDP parliamentary group, where he served as its managing director from 1959 to 1965. At the same time, he held the office of federal manager of his party from 1962 to 1964. In 1965, Genscher entered the Bundestag for the first time for the FDP, where he served as his party's parliamentary manager until 1969. In 1968 he was nominated as deputy party leader of the FDP. In Willy Brandt's social-liberal coalition government, Genscher headed the Interior Ministry from 1969 to 1974. Under Helmut Schmidt's subsequent chancellorship, he was put in charge of the Foreign Ministry, which he was to hold from 1974 to 1982.

During his 18 years as foreign minister, Genscher developed a continuous East-West dialogue that gave his détente policy a personal touch. He advocated the further development of the EC as a precursor to European unification. After the Soviet head of state and party leader Mikhail Gorbachev came to power, the German Foreign Minister strongly supported the reform process in the USSR, including with the West, which earned his détente and reconciliation course the label of "geneticism". Together with Chancellor Helmut Kohl, Genscher played a key role in the dramatic events in the fall of 1989 that led from the worsening crisis in the GDR to the waves of emigration and ultimately to the fall of the Wall. He prepared the diplomatic ground for German reunification in countless negotiations with his European neighbors, the USA and the USSR. The essential framework for achieving German unity was the integration of Germany into Europe, whose political union Genscher energetically promoted.

On May 18, 1992, Genscher resigned from the leadership of the Foreign Ministry at his own request, which passed to Klaus Kinkel. During his foreign policy work, Genscher also rose to become the leading figure in his party. From 1974 to 1985 he succeeded Walter Scheel as federal chairman of the FDP. On the occasion of the new elections in 1982, Genscher was significantly involved in the so-called "turnaround", which led to his party distancing itself from the SPD and turning to the CDU/CSU as the new coalition partner. In 1992, Hans Dietrich Genscher was made honorary chairman of the FDP. From 1994 to 1995 he accepted an honorary professorship in political science at the Free University. In 1999 he resumed his legal practice at the Büsing, Müffelmann and Theye law firm in Berlin. In 2000 he became managing partner of Hans-Dietrich Genscher Consult GmbH, providing advice, information and analysis on international, European and foreign trade issues. Although the politician continues to speak out critically in the public debate, he no longer ran for political office.

Genscher has received several awards for his services to German and European unity. For the same reason, he received the "Radio Rainbow Award" in Karlsruhe in March 2005 together with Kohl and Gorbachev. In 2014 he received the Marion Dönhoff Prize and in 2015 he was awarded the European Culture Prize.

Hans-Dietrich Genscher died on March 31, 2016 in Wachtberg-Pech.

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