Engelbertus Fukken was born on August 28, 1914 in The Hague (Van Boetzelaerlaan 140). His parents were Willem Briedé (1865 Amsterdam) and Elizabeth Johanna Fukken (1886 Rotterdam), who were not married because Willem's first wife refused to divorce him. In the end he had three brothers and three sisters. His father was a trader in cereals and later became an accountant. The family moved in 1917 to Noordwijk aan Zee, where they rented a villa at Duinweg 7. His mother died in 1920 of her eighth pregnancy.