Famous people who grew up or lived in the Netherlands
8 notable people grew up or lived in the Netherlands. Each listing explores the home and neighbourhood, and how the place shaped the person they became.
Anne Frank1942–1944
📍 Prinsengracht 263–267, 1016 GV Amsterdam, Netherlands
We called it the Secret Annex — eight of us hiding in the back rooms above my father's office, for 761 days. I wrote in my diary because I needed somewhere to put everything I was feeling…
Corrie ten Boom1892–1944
📍 Barteljorisstraat 19, 2011 RA Haarlem, Netherlands
I grew up in the Beje — our family's name for the narrow, crooked house at 19 Barteljorisstraat in the centre of Haarlem — living with my father, my sisters, my brother and my aunts in…
Johan Cruyff1947–1959
📍 Akkerstraat 32, Amsterdam, Netherlands
I was born in Amsterdam in April 1947, the second son of Hermanus Cruijff and Petronella Draaijer, and I grew up in a ground-floor flat at Akkerstraat 32 in Betondorp, the Concrete Village…
Johannes Vermeer
📍 Oude Langendijk, Delft, Netherlands
I spent nearly all of my forty-three years within these streets of Delft, and I would not have had it otherwise. My home and studio on the Oude Langendijk was my entire world — the…
Marco van Basten1964–1981
📍 Utrecht, Netherlands
Marcel van Basten, always known as Marco, was born in Utrecht in October 1964 and grew up in the city, in the heart of the Netherlands. His father, Joop, had played football…
Rembrandt van Rijn1639–1669
📍 Jodenbreestraat 4, 1011 NK Amsterdam, Netherlands
I bought the house on the Sint Anthonisbreestraat — now the Jodenbreestraat — in Amsterdam's Jewish quarter in 1639, at the height of my success. It was a large house and I filled it with…
Ruud Gullit1962–1972
📍 Jordaan, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Ruud Gullit was born Rudi Dil in Amsterdam in September 1962 and grew up in the Jordaan, the old working-class district of narrow streets and canals in the west of the city centre. His…
Vincent van Gogh1853–1869
📍 Markt 26, 4880 Zundert, North Brabant, Netherlands
I was born Vincent Willem van Gogh on the 30th of March 1853 in Zundert, a village in the Dutch province of North Brabant, the son of Theodorus van Gogh, a pastor of the Dutch Reformed…