Corry Kruip was the eldest of five children, born to Harrie and Marie Hoefnagels on March 9, 1929 in Roermond, Holland. She was a young girl when the Nazis invaded Holland in 1939. Prior to the invasion as a young school child, she was forced to listen to Hitler speak during a public demonstration in her local town and was within yards of him, as well as some of his top generals, including Hermann Goering.