Willem Wessel was the son of Jacob Wessel and Grietje Trompetter. He studied the violin at the conservatory. Until 1933, however, he worked as a gym teacher. In 1935 he obtained permission to decorate wooden boxes with pyrographic reproductions of works by the artist Jan Toorop and then to sell them. Willem Wessel was married on 16 June 1937.
During the war, Willem Wessel and his wife went into hi…