On a somber day in April, 1957, I said goodbye to my parents and little sister as I boarded the KLM airplane at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport that would take me to the promised land, the United States of America, where I would realize my dream. I was only 17.
I use these words, because I just read a heartrending article in the Dutch NRC Handelsblad that includes these words:
Jelle Hans Reitsma was originally from Friesland, a rural area in the northern Netherlands. In 1988, at age 17, he had emigrated to California’s Central Valley in the hopes of realising the American dream.
Those who have read some of my posts, or my “bio,” know by now that, to a reasonable extent, I have achieved my American dream.
But how about this Dutchman, Jelle Hans Reitsma?
Well, according to the Handelsblad:
Hans’ particular American dream was to one day own a dairy farm with seven-hundred cows. That would have been a near impossibility in the overpopulated Netherlands, where a two-hundred cows farm is considered pretty big. But here in Corcoran – “California’s farming capital,” according to a billboard in an empty field – the sky was the limit.
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The Reitsmas were successful – very successful. Twenty years later, Hans had by far surpassed his dream of a seven-hundred cows farm. The family farm now extended over 900 hectares and employed 86 workers. They had just bought a second farm – a small one by comparison with only 2,000 cows. The family was going to move there so that the children could get to know the real farmer’s life – not just the factory-like dairy farm.
So, although I could not complain after my first 20 years in this great country—I had just retired from my first career as an Air Force officer—Hans was doing much, much better.
But in my case, “after my first 20 years” would be 1977-1978, when the U.S. economy was well on its way to a full recovery from the longest and deepest economic recession since the end of World War II.
In the case of Hans Reitsma, however, “after his first 20 years” puts him at the end of 2008, right smack in the middle of an economic crisis even worse than the 1973-1975 economic recession–a crisis that some fear could become a depression the likes of which we haven’t seen since the 1930s.
And here is where, sadly, our stories diverge.
For it was in 2008 when Hans Reitsma’s American dream took a tragic turn.
According to the Handelsblad, it was the Friday before Christmas 2008, when Hans’ wife, 41-year-old Roxanne, suddenly woke up at 4:20 a.m. and noticed that her husband was not lying next to her.
In normal times, this wouldn’t have worried her. Jelle Hans Reitsma (37) was in the habit of getting up before dawn to inspect his 18,000 cows or to check on the dozens of workers who keep his farm in Corcoran, California, running day and night.
But these were not normal times. The global credit crunch had hit the Reitsma business hard. The couple had just been through a week that Roxanne now describes as “hell on earth”. Under pressure from the banks to repay millions of dollars in loans, Reitsma was faced with the choice of selling his cows or having them slaughtered.
Sadly, Roxanne’s worries were justified.
Hans’ American dream had come to a sudden and tragic end in a nearby walnut orchard. Hans had shot himself.
Hans left behind, not only his dreams, but also his wife and seven children between 2 and 14 years old.
He also left behind two notes. One for his wife and children, the other for the branch manager of one of the banks from which Hans had borrowed $40 million. The note to the bank read: “Welcome to the kill.”
The Handelsblad:
As the financial crisis spread, Reitsma’s banks got nervous. One bank suddenly called in a seven-year loan. “The maturity of the loan was changed from seven years to two months without a word of explanation,” says Roxanne.
Hans made the payments as best he could but somehow the bank always wanted more. “We felt ashamed. They treated us as if we were about to run off with their money.”
The Handelsblad article, by Freek Staps, one of NRC Handelsblad’s US correspondents, is a disturbing story about how the current economic disaster can affect even the most hard-working, dedicated, conscientious people—not, as some claim, just “the irresponsible amongst us.”
Please read “The life and death of farmer Hans” in its entirety at the Handelsblad. It may bring tears to your eyes, but you won’t regret it.
You may hear more about this story in the near future, as, again, according to the Handelsblad:
One person who doesn’t mind discussing the case is Tom Vilsack, president Barack Obama’s Agriculture Secretary. Vilsack has left a message on Roxanne’s voicemail, saying he had heard of Hans’ case and wanted to express his sympathy.
Roxanne is planning to take a trip to Washington with her children and parents to visit Vilsack’s office. She wants to keep the memory of her husband alive, she says. This is why she is telling her story. She wants the world to know that Hans was a respectable citizen and not a coward, as she has heard him called.
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.