Armin Schmitt, born in 1955, grew up in a Saarland village on the edge of Hunsrück. His childhood was shaped by Catholicism, the disliked school, the hilly countryside and working-class environment in which he grew up. One of his grandfathers was a miner, the other a steelworker, and his father a lathe operator. The women took care of the household. The introduction of BAföG opened the door to education for him, allowing him to study history, German language and literature, and art history. He wanted to become a teacher, but after his studies he first worked at the State Conservator's Office in Saarbrücken on the subject of industrial culture. Since then, cultural work has never left him. In addition to his work first as a teacher and then as a further educator over three decades, he was, among other things, artistic director of the schichtwechsel festival (1990–2003) at the Völklinger Hütte World Cultural Heritage Site, curated exhibitions in the Saarland state parliament and performed as a reciter. He is currently co-artistic director at KuBa – Kulturzentrum am Eurobahnhof (since 2007) in Saarbrücken. In the course of time, several publications have been produced, mainly in the fields of industrial culture and art. He has contributed to numerous didactic publications. Recently, he has been creatively engaged in the linking of image and text in the context of a "weekly book". Concise experiences on many journeys are currently reflected in an anthology of travel miniatures.
Lives and works in Saarbrücken.