Liesbeth List - Biography - Early Life

Early Life

She was born in Bandoeng, Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia), as Elisabeth "Elly" Dorothea Driessen. Her parents were separated in 1942, when during the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies, her father was forced to work in coal mines. List and her mother were sent to one of the many camps set up exclusively to contain Dutch occupants of Indonesia; such camps were known under the Dutch nickname "jappenkamp" (Jap-Camp). The circumstances in which List and her mother lived in the camp were very hard on her mother, who developed depression. Four years later, the Netherlands freed the East Indies of the Japanese occupation and List and her mother were set free. They were reunited with their father and husband, but a few weeks later, List's mother committed suicide. List and her father returned to the Netherlands, where her father remarried. His new wife, however, frequently clashed with List. At the age of seven, child's services took List away. It was thought List's father was deceased, and she was placed in an orphanage. After it was revealed List's father was still alive, she was placed back with her father and stepmother.

In 1948, during a trip to Dutch island Vlieland, List's stepmother was told that the owner of a hotel on Vlieland and his wife were seeking to adopt a child. Liesbeth List was subsequently given up by her father and adopted by this couple, whose surname was List.