Early Life
Andersen was born on 9 July 1898 in Kristiania (now Oslo), and had a difficult childhood, the latter part of it in an orphanage. He was the son of construction worker Ole Andersen and Josefine Hansen. Soon after Johannes was born, Norway entered a period of economic difficulties, with little construction work available. This led to his father having to change jobs from mason to milkman. Johannes' mother became obsessed with religion.
Read more about this topic: Johannes S. Andersen
Famous quotes related to early life:
“... goodness is of a modest nature, easily discouraged, and when much elbowed in early life by unabashed vices, is apt to retire into extreme privacy, so that it is more easily believed in by those who construct a selfish old gentleman theoretically, than by those who form the narrower judgments based on his personal acquaintance.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)