Elmer van Engelenburg

van Engelenburg was born in the Juliana Hospital adjacent to Veenendaal (which was in the territory of Rhenen) and grew up in Veenendaal in a family with a younger brother. In Veenendaal he completed his VWO at the CLV in 1997. After this he went to IBM as an intern, after which he continued to work in automation until 2003. In 2004 he began his studies at the University for Humanistics, where he connected with the ideas of Harry Kunneman and through Joep Dohmen became familiar with the work of Nietzsche. He especially recognized the criticism of (post-)modern society, which is characterized by an excessive individuality. After writing his bachelor thesis on "the death of humanism," Van Engelenburg distanced himself from traditional humanist thought. Halfway through his Master, he left the university and went back to work in automation, including at KPN and Canal Digitaal. Later he joined bol.com as an IT specialist.