Ben Afman Case Study

BEN AND TINA AFMAN foot note 52

Ben Afman grew up in the town of Bedum, with a population of 2,000, in the province of Groningen. He had a certificate to deliver milk door to door. ( Ada has a copy of the certificate). He owned his own wagon, horse and stainless steel tub. He had the rights to sell milk and would ladle the milk into the containers of his customers. A special delivery envelope told him that he had to go and work for the Germans. If he did not report, there was a chance that he would be found and he would eventually be put into a concentration camp. Ben had to go into hiding, leaving his milk business behind, and living with his brother Jan in the village of Baflo in the north of the province. Jan was very well

There were too many government regulations for Ben to continue his milking business. Besides requiring a horse and wagon, he needed a milk house, he had to use city water not well water, and the thatch roof for the milk house had to be replaced with tiles. He had very little money compared to the collaborators who now had the good jobs and had made lots of money on the black market. During the war, Ben had to sell his blankets to get enough food to eat. He was angry at the unfairness of it

Ben was paid $ 75 a month, which was raised to $ 80. Emerson expected Ben to milk on Sundays, but for religious reasons Ben did not ” work” on Sundays. They reached a compromise and they took turns. From March until July, the two families lived in the same house, in two separate apartments. The children from the two families often fought. The Smiths were very good to them. Kathleen Smith made a lunch for the kids when they went to school, a very large box of sandwiches made of the delicacy of white bread, with lots of jam in between. That was a lot of food for them. Often Kathleen made bowls of popped corn .In Holland, they were used to having only a large plate of potatoes. Mrs. Smith added meat and dessert to their diet. She taught Tina how to bake