Danutė Paruškevičiūtė was born in Kalvarija, into a family of public servants. Her family moved from place to place, so she started primary education in Smalininkai and continued in Pagėgiai. After the annexation of Klaipėda Territory, the family moved to Tauragė where Danutė finished primary education. When Lithuania regained Vilnius, the family moved there and in 1944 Danutė finished the fifth form of Vilnius 3rd State Gymnasium. In the summer of 1944 the family fled the front to Germany. They returned to Lithuania after the war and settled in Vilnius. Danute Paruškevičiūtė worked at the Institute of Sanitation and Hygiene and studied at a gymnasium at the same time. In 1947, she quit her job and was admitted to Vilnius Salomėja Nėris Gymnasium, which she successfully finished the following year and became a student at the Faculty of History and Philology of Vilnius University. However, her studies were disrupted by exile as in 1949 Danutė was deported and returned to Lithuania in 1958.