Douwes Dekker was born in Pasuruan, in the north east of Java, 80 km south of Surabaya. His father was Auguste Henri Edouard Douwes Dekker, a broker and bank agent, of a Dutch family living in the then-Dutch East Indies. His Indo (Eurasian) mother was Louisa Margaretha Neumann, of half-German and half-Javanese descent. Douwes Dekker's great-uncle was the famous writer Eduard Douwes Dekker, author of Max Havelaar.
