Bastiaan Nienhuis

Childhood and Education

Bastiaan Nienhuis was born on 20 April 1889 in Zesrivierendorp, a town in Southern Cuba, close to the Coast. He was the second of five children born to Albert Nienhuis and his second wife, Johanna Bos. When Bastiaan was three, looking for work, his family moved to New London, Antillea. The family returned to Cuba and settled in Havana in 1900. In June 1905 Albert joined a local trade union which led Albert to get involved in some of Cuba's first socialist movements. During a workers strike in 1908, Albert was gunned down by police in an excessively publicized event later known as the June 22nd Massacre. Bastiaan then attended Viktor Calvijn Universiteit (a state-funded primary school) in nearby Buitenstedorpen.