The depression began in 1928. By this time the oldest three had left school which was normal after finishing grade 7 and were helping on the farm. That was really needed because we couldn’t afford outside help anymore. When dad married on March 30, 1921, three years after the first world war everything was still expensive. A cow cost 800 guilders but in 1928 the depression began, and prices fell drastically. Cow prices dropped from 800 guilders to around 200 guilders. When dad started the farm, he had to borrow about half of the money. After the devaluation his debts were at least double the value of everything on the farm.

At one time my dad had a beautiful horse. A couple who was getting married borrowed it to walk in front of the wagon, but the horse had a heart attack and feel dead in front of the wagon. My dad also had a car for a short while. Driving was not easy on those narrow roads which were often not very straight and had water in canals on both sides. Driver’s licenses were not required at the time and no one had driving lessons or needed to pass a test in order to drive. Close to Schoonhoven there is a very narrow bend in the road. One day they didn’t make the turn and went into the canal and that was the end of the car. I have since passed that spot quite often but now it has been widened and somewhat improved but still a risky place.

To pay off some of his debts Dad had to sell his farm for a price far below its real value since no one had money to buy land. This was partly beneficial to some of them as only industrialists and banks were able to buy them as investments and they were anxious to keep the farmers on them as renters, knowing they would do everything to hang on and so their investment was protected. Our farm was bought by a Mister Smith of Alblasserdam who had become rich by building boats. He bought 94 farms as investments but he wouldn’t buy more because when he had a hundred his taxes would go up.

I was too young at the time to realize it but my accident, the long stay in the hospital, and all the doctors’ fees must have been a severe strain on dad’s finances, but the children were growing and able to help out before and after school and sometimes staying home from school when extra help was needed. Every penny was turned over twice before it was spent, and nothing  bought that was not absolutely needed. All the food that could be raised was self-grown. Clothes were repaired and reworked till almost nothing was left and that is how we made it through the depression.

Bankruptcy was the worst thing that could happen. Nowadays people declare bankruptcy and start over again but then it was not so easy. A bankrupt farmer was a nobody, and was not accepted by any group, not by other farmers and not by labourers. There were no social supports either or another way to make a living. Many died young from over-work, disappointment and worries. Some saw suicide as the only way out and some sold everything before it was too late and left for America, the country of the future. Some farmers kept their debts secret and left for America at night without telling anybody to avoid the creditors.

The depression was due to many factors. Industrialisation was one of them. The invention of electricity, gas and motors made it possible to produce things in very large quantities at low prices and home industries couldn’t compete and make a living anymore. Unemployment increased and with no unions, there was no income, only an extremely low government subsidy, and for some slight help from the churches. Everybody tried to find work, no matter how low the wages and due to the large supply of labourers, wages continued to drop as there were people willing to work for less. There was no government protection so in many places people worked 14 or more hours a day and even children as young as 8 years old had to work very long days.

On the farms machines had reduced the need for labour and combined with the introduction of fertilizer created the problem of over-production. There was a real need for those products, but nobody could afford them. This was part of the strategy of the Liberal government at the time to protect the rich, who thought very cheap labour was the only way to survive in this depression. They didn’t realize they were only harming themselves because if people were paid better wages they would have money to buy the necessities. The misery was so great that many people found their only relief in cheap whiskey which only made their misery worse. Additionally the rising growth of American agriculture resulted in large supplies of feed grains being imported at such low prices that they couldn’t be grown locally for those same low prices.

Many farmers who were thought to be in much better financial condition than dad went broke, and to everybody’s surprise dad stayed on. No one thought the depression would be so long but it only got worse until 1937 when it slowly came to an end and in 1938 a slight improvement was noticed. The government was forced to change their policies, new laws took effect. Germany was becoming stronger which helped us to export products and so on, but many farms were so deep in debt by that time that the recovery didn’t help anymore and they still went under. Our neigbhour went bankrupt in April 1940, only a month before the war.

We had a lot of chores on the farm starting at a young age because as soon as possible the oldest had to go work for others to make some extra money. We were all allowed to have some pet animals and also rabbits, guinea pigs or goats to earn some extra money for ourselves. My parents and oldest brothers and sisters must have suffered more than us younger ones. We still had a good time, and we were not the only ones since almost everyone was in the same situation. Looking back on those years now I think that especially Stiena had too much responsibility for her age and Adam and Jaap probably worked very hard too as young children.