Jopie Huisman was born on 18 October 1922 in Workum, Friesland. In 1939, he became a ceramics painter at the earthenware factory of Aurora. In 1942, he was arrested during a raid and put to work at a labor camp in Kassel, Germany. One day, he was looking at the sky and thought he saw a flock of geese. Suddenly the factory next door collapsed. The bombing of Kassel had started. Huisman managed to escape from the camp, and found refugee in Workum. In 1949, he married Eelkje de Boer, started a business, and a family.