Editing Barend Biesheuvel (section)

==Early life==
[[File:Premier Biesheuvel ontvangt premier Trygve Bratteli van Noorwegen in Catshuis De, Bestanddeelnr 925-2933.jpg|thumb|left|220px|[[Prime Minister of Norway]] [[Trygve Bratteli]] and Prime Minister Barend Biesheuvel at the [[Catshuis]] on 8 January 1972.]]
[[File:Andrei Gromyko and Barend Biesheuvel 1972.jpg|thumb|left|220px|[[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Soviet Union)|Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union]] [[Andrei Gromyko]] and Prime Minister Barend Biesheuvel at the [[Catshuis]] op 5 July 1972.]]

Barend Willem Biesheuvel was born on 5 April 1920 in [[Haarlemmerliede]] in the [[Provinces of the Netherlands|Province]] of [[North Holland]] in a [[Reformed Churches in the Netherlands|Reformed]] family, the son of Arie Biesheuvel (born 21 January 1883 in Haarlemmerliede – died 21 May 1952 in Haarlemmerliede)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.genealogieonline.nl/stamboom-hans-meijer/I15270.php|title=Arie Biesheuvel (1883-1952) » Stamboom Hans Meijer » Genealogie Online}}</ref> and Johanna Margaretha "Antje" Troost (born 22 February 1881 in [[Sloten, Amsterdam|Sloten]] – died 12 December 1955 in Fijnaart).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.genealogieonline.nl/stamboom-hans-meijer/I15271.php|title=Johanna Margaretha Troost (1881-1955) » Stamboom Hans Meijer » Genealogie Online}}</ref> Biesheuvel had three brothers and two sisters. After completing his secondary education at local schools, he graduated in law at the Free University of Amsterdam in September 1945. For the next two years Biesheuvel worked in [[Alkmaar]] as secretary to the Food Commissioner for the Province of [[North Holland]]. In 1947 he became secretary to the Foreign Division of the Agricultural Society (now the Agricultural Board). In 1952 Biesheuvel became general secretary of the Christian Farmers and Gardeners Association of the Netherlands (CBTB) and in 1959 chairman of that organisation. From the same year he was also a member of the Agricultural Board, the Labour Foundation and the boards of the Centrale Raifeissen Bank and Heidemij.