Joachim Hans Dietrich Schwatlo-Gesterding was born on March 2, 1903, in Stralsund, Germany, to Siegfried Schwatlo and Lucie Gesterding.

In 1917, at the age of 14, he entered a cadet school; he joined the German army in 1919, and in 1922 became a lieutenant ("Leutnant") in the Reichswehr ("empire defense"; German armed forces from 1919 to 1935). In 1927, he began training to become a general staff officer, and in 1934 became Hauptmann (captain). Four years later, he was transferred to the general command in Hanover as a major.

Joachim married Doris Walther on April 17, 1937 in Berlin, Germany. The couple had no children. During World War II, he fought in Poland and France, as well as in Russia later as a lieutenant colonel ("oberstleutnant," 1941). Only a year later, in 1942, he was promoted to Oberst (colonel) and returned to the Eastern Front, deployed in Galicia and Silesia (now Spain and Poland) until 1945. He was then promoted to major general ("Generalmajor"). Just before the war ended, on May 10, 1945, he was taken prisoner by the Soviets and sentenced to 25 years of hard labor by a Russian tribunal, and held in Moscow and nearby Lager'; he was released after only 10 years, in about September 1955.

In 1956, Joachim was hired by the Bundeswehr ("federal defense," German armed forces since 1955) as a Brigadegeneral (brigadier general). He was appointed deputy inspector of the army in November 1958, promoted to major general in 1959, and then in 1960 as commander of the military area of Hanover. In October 1961, he became commander of the territorial defense in Bad Godesberg, and the following February, he was promoted to lieutenant general (Generalleutnant, the second highest rank in the German army). A year later, in February 1963, he retired after reaching the age limit.

Schwatlo-Gesterding was awarded the German Gold Cross (generally given for repeated acts of bravery or exceptional leadership) and the Grand Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany with a star for his achievements in the Bundeswehr. He died on January 27, 1975, in Bonn, Germany, at the age of 71, and was buried in the Poppelsdorfer Friedhof (cemetery) in Bonn.

Gertrude Friederike Auguste Retter was born on July 27, 1877, in Berlin, Prussia (now Germany), the only child of Karl Emil Richard Retter and Elise Sophie Emile Wolff.

She married architect Karl Otto Schwatlo on October 5, 1897, in Berlin, Germany. They had three sons: Siegried Carl (1899-1988), Wolfgang Hans (1901-1902), and Gerhardt Friedrich Hans (1905-1963). She died on January 19, 1956, in Eisleben, Germany.

Doris Berta Walther was born November 10, 1892 in Berlin, Germany, to parents Julius Walther and Margarethe Menzel. She married a Mr. Neusser and seems to have had at least one son with him; they later divorced. She married Joachim Schwatlo-Gesterding on April 17, 1937, in Berlin, Germany. The couple had no children.

The Schwatlo family were residents of Germany int he 20th century. Siegfried Carl Schwatlo was born on November 17, 1899, in Frankfurt an der Oder, Germany, to Carl Otto Schwatlo and Gertrude Friederike Auguste Retter. Joachim Hans Dietrich Schwatlo-Gesterding was born on March 2, 1903, in Stralsund, Germany, to Siegfried Schwatlo and Lucie Gesterding. Joachim married Doris Walther on April 17, 1937 in Berlin, Germany. The couple had no children. Siegfried and Joachim shared the same grandparents, Carl Schwatlo and Mathilde Wilhelmine Walther.