He moved with his family to Recklinghausen in 1920 and stayed there to finish his schooling until 1929. On his return to Heerlen he started an apprenticeship at the men's store Vroom and Dreesman in Heerlen. After his apprenticeship he waspromoted to the custom tailoring dept. At the age of 25 he became manager of the custom tailoring and became the envy ofthe other employees.