Pramoedya was born on February 6, 1925, in Blora in central Java, then a part of the Dutch East Indies. He was the oldest son in his family. Pramoedya's father was a teacher. His father was also active in Boedi Oetomo (the first recognized indigenous national organization in Indonesia). Pramoedya's mother was a rice trader. His maternal grandfather had made the pilgrimage to Mecca. As it is written in his semi-autobiographical collection of short stories "Cerita Dari Blora", his name was originally Pramoedya Ananta Mastoer. But he felt that the family name Mastoer was too aristocratic. The Javanese prefix "Mas" means a man of the higher rank in a noble family. So, he removes "Mas" and kept Toer as his family name. Pramoedya went to the Radio Vocational School in Surabaya but had just graduated when Japan invaded Surabaya in 1942.