Editing Willem Drees (section)

==Early life and education==
[[File:Willem Drees 1908.jpg|thumb|left|Drees in 1908]]
Willem Drees was born in [[Amsterdam]] on 5 July 1886 in an orthodox [[Dutch Reformed Church|reformed]] middle-class family. His father Johannes Michiel Drees, a banker and supporter of [[Abraham Kuyper]], died when Drees was five years old, which left his mother Anna Sophia van Dobbenburgh, his two siblings and himself in a precarious financial situation. Drees could continue studying thanks to the support of his uncle Frits. He attended the three-year {{lang|nl|[[Hogere Burgerschool]]}} (HBS), supplemented by the two final grades of the [[Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences|Amsterdam Public Trade School]]. Drees grew up attending [[Sunday school]] and [[catechism]], but rejected the Christian creed at the age of eighteen.<ref name="Biography Willem Drees"/><ref name="Van der Steen">{{cite journal |last1=Van der Steen |first1=Paul |date=2006 |title='Het is allemaal zoo geleidelijk en vanzelf gegaan.' De 'jonge' jaren van Willem Drees |url=https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/_bio001200601_01/_bio001200601_01_0030.php |journal=Biografie Bulletin |volume=16 |access-date=5 January 2024}}</ref>

He developed an interest in political and social affairs at this time, such as the [[Boer Wars]] and the [[Dreyfus affair]]. At the Trade School, he met the sons of diamond workers who were united in the [[General Diamond Workers' Union of the Netherlands]], the most politically and socially developed social democratic labour union at the time. At the age of sixteen, Drees became a member of the Dutch Association for the Abolition of Alcoholic Beverages, and would remain a [[Teetotalism|teetoler]] for the rest of his life. After attending a speech of [[Pieter Jelles Troelstra]] following his election victory in Amsterdam in December 1902, Drees became a [[Democratic socialism|democratic socialist]]. He joined the [[Social Democratic Workers' Party (Netherlands)|Social Democratic Workers' Party]] (SDAP) on his eighteenth birthday.<ref name="Biography Willem Drees"/><ref name="Van der Steen"/><ref name=Tromp>{{cite book |last=Tromp |first=Bart |date=2012 |chapter=Drees en het democratisch socialisme (1988) |title=De loden bal van het socialisme |url=https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/trom003lode01_01/trom003lode01_01_0018.php}}</ref>

Near the conclusion of Drees' time at the Trade School, the school's principal offered Drees a position at a brewery, but he refused due to his opposition to alcoholic beverages. Instead, after obtaining his [[Bachelor of Accountancy]] degree in 1903, he started working as a bank teller for the {{ill|Twentsche Bank|nl}} in Amsterdam in July 1903. This work did not satisfy him, however, and he rejected an offer by his uncle Frits for a career in brokerage and insurance. In July 1906, Drees quit his job at the Twentsche Bank and pursued his passion, becoming a [[Court reporter|stenographer]] at the municipal council of [[Amsterdam]], and then at the [[States General of the Netherlands]] in [[The Hague]] from January 1907 until August 1919.<ref name="Biography Willem Drees"/><ref name="Van der Steen"/>