He was the son of Benedictus Premsela, general practitioner and sexologist, en Rosalie de Boers.

[2] After his secondary education he attended the Nieuwe Kunstschool (New Art School) from 1937 to 1940.

[1] Premsela was Jewish and one of the only members of his family to survive the Holocaust in the Netherlands.

[3] From 1956 to 1973 he was head of display window decoration at De Bijenkorf.

[1] Premsela was also chairman of the COC Nederland and made an important contribution to the acceptance of homosexuality in the Netherlands.