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Hannie Schaft's gun and glasses -Collection Dutch Resistance Museum.

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Glasses worn by Hannie Schaft -Collection Dutch Resistance Museum.

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Moses, Claire. “Overlooked No More: Hannie Schaft, Resistance Fighter during World War II (Published 2023).” The New York Times, 7 July 2023, www-nytimes-com.translate.goog/2023/07/07/obituaries/hannie-schaft-overlooked.html?_x_tr_sl=en&_x_tr_tl=pt&_x_tr_hl=pt&_x_tr_pto=tc.

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Hannie Schaft and her friend Truus pretending to be a couple -Collection Dutch Resistance Museum.

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"Angels of the Resistance." Library Journal, vol. 147, no. 6, June 2022, p. 125. Gale In Context: High School, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A706701932/GPS?u=j093903&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=670b9594. Accessed 6 May 2025.

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Potters, Michelle. “The Teenage Dutch Girls Who Seduced and Killed Nazis.” BBC News, BBC, 23 Mar. 2022, www.bbc.com/reel/video/p0808hpm/the-teenage-dutch-girls-who-seduced-and-killed-nazis#:~:text=During%20World%20War%20Two%2C%20the,for%20them%20to%20be%20executed.&text=Follow%20BBC%20Reel%20on%20Twitter,latest%20videos%20and%20exclusive%20content.

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Little, Becky. “This Teenager Killed Nazis with Her Sister during WWII.” History.Com, A&E Television Networks, 15 Apr. 2025, www.history.com/articles/dutch-resistance-teenager-killed-nazis-freddie-oversteegen.

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While she was not a Jew herself, she knew that the acts against Jews was wrong, so she joined the Dutch Resistance and made it her mission be part of the change. Even though she was just a 19 year old girl, she was able to make a pretty big impact on the Nazis, specifically the soldiers. Her along with two of her friends, Truus and Freddie Oversteegen, were able to devise and execute a plan to seduce and lure Nazi soldiers into the woods and kill them.

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Smith, Patricia. "Angels of the Resistance." Booklist, vol. 119, no. 4, 15 Oct. 2022, p. 29. Gale In Context: Biography, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A732242599/GPS?u=j093903&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=08ad1ea5. Accessed 6 May 2025.

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Hannie grew up in a middle class household with her older sister Annie for the first 7 years of her life, until her sister tragically passed away from diphtheria at the age of 12. As a result of her older sister's death, she grew up with a protective childhood. Because of this, she was "a serious, principled girl" who valued her education. She valued it so much that she went on to study law at the University of Amsterdam.

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Despite being very skillful at what she did, her role in the resistance eventually caught up to her leading to her ultimate demise. Because of her red hair, she was easily recognized as "The Girl With the Red Hair" who went around killing Nazi collaborators. She became so well known in fact, that she had to dye her hair black to not be so easily recognized. Regardless of this, she was recognized by Nazi officers while riding her bike. The Nazi officers shot at her. The first shot hit her in the head, but didn't kill her. The second shot also hit her in the back of the head but sadly it did not have the same fate as the last. She was killed instantly just weeks before the end of the war in Europe.

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Freddie Oversteegen was only 14 years old when she joined the Dutch resistance alongside her sister, Truus. Before formally joining the resistance though, the sisters were an active part of the resistance by keeping Jewish refugees in their home. As the war went on, she became more comfortable with her role in the resistance and even became an armed assassin. After the war, Freddie and her sister both dealt with trauma from killing people and losing their best friend Hannie.

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Truus was the older of the 2 sisters. She joined the resistance when she was 16 with her sister Freddie. While in the resistance killing Nazis, she and her sister used a method that many people would think of as effective in killing grown men; they used their bikes to ride up to the Nazis with guns and they shot them. After everything was over, she suffered severe PTSD for a while, but eventually as she got over it she was described as grandmotherly and even fed guests cookies.

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Poldermans, Sophie. “What I Learned from the Teenage Sisters Who Fought the Nazis.” Time, Time, 30 Aug. 2019, time.com/5661142/dutch-resistance-friendship/.

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Some people may wonder why these girls had such an extreme response to the war even though they were not directly affected. In an interview Truus gave accounts of some of the things she witnessed that made her want to do what she did. She stated that “while she was biking, she saw Germans picking up innocent people from the streets, putting them against a wall and shooting them. She was forced to watch, which aroused such an enormous anger in her". She continues to talk about how she watched German soldiers take babies from their families and bash their heads into the wall while the family watched.

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Johnson, Rachel. “Freddie Oversteegen, the Teenage Assassin of Nazis - Owlcation.” Owlcation, 12 Mar. 2025, owlcation.com/humanities/The-Tale-of-Freddie-Oversteegen-Teenage-Nazi-Killer.

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Following the end of the war, both sisters were physically fine, but mentally affected beyond comprehension. While for a good reason, they had ended the lives of dozens of people. On top of that, their best friend and partner in the resistance, Hannie had been killed just weeks before the end of the war. As a result, the Oversteegen girls tried their hardest to do something impactful and gain recognition for their work. Truus took up art and became famous for sharing her story in speeches worldwide, while her sister focused more on her family until later in life. All things considered, they were glad to get their message out there that even when the work is hard, “you must always remain human.” They continued to share their story until their deaths; Truus at 92 in 2016 and Freddie also at 92, 2 years later.

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Because of the bravery of these young girls, countless terrible people were off the streets and countless innocent Jews were saved. Their decision to do something about what was going on around them inspired many people to do the same. Hannie in particular became a symbol of bravery and resistance in the Netherlands and her story continues to be remembered and commemorated. A foundation was even created in her honor.

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Hannie and the Oversteegen sisters were given many very dangerous tasks to carry out as a part of their work for the resistance, much of which, if caught, would have gotten them killed. With that much at stake, they had to be way more careful and deliberate in how they did their work in order to go under the radar. Since the girls were so young, many people didn't expect them to be killers, or even part of the resistance for that matter. Truus was only 14 at the time, her sister only 2 years older, so they could get away with a lot more than other members of the resistance. Something else that helped them was confidence in what they were doing, and commitment to the cause. Had they not been fully committed or confident in their every action, they could've been suspected of being up to no good, effectively ruining their whole operation. They also never flaunted or even talked about the number of Nazi soldiers they killed, which helped them stay unknown to Axis Powers.