[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] German Occupation - Latvian - Contractor

Reiner Kerp mail at reiner-kerp.de
Fri Jun 1 02:43:15 PDT 2007


Dear fellow searchers,

as I understand the sence but cannot find the word "kontranik" in any of my 
dictionaries, the best I can make aut of this, is to compare ist to other 
kinds of occupation. The closest may be an "Instmann".
While a "Gärtner" did´nt own enough land to feed his family, an "Instmann" 
(mostly) didn´t own any land at all.
A Gärtner had to find an additional income as a day-laborer.
As my mother-in-law told me, an Instmann was more comparable to an employee.
An Instmann made a contract with the owner of an estate regarding his 
employment. This contract contained details about housingspace in an 
"Insthaus", the garden, the number of hours and the time (different seasons) 
to work and, what kind of work and how many hours his wife had to do. 
Sometimes also the duties of the Instmanns children were covered.

Best wishes,

Reiner 





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