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Freddie Oversteegen, Truus Oversteegen, and Hannie Schaft all worked together to seduce and kill Nazis.

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Freddie Oversteegen, born in September 1925, and Truus Oversteegen, born in August 1923, joined the Dutch Resistance when they were 14 and 16. They grew up in the city of Haarlem, in the Netherlands with their single, middle-class mother.
Hannie Schaft was a university student, but dropped out since she refused to sign a pledge of loyalty in Germany. She was born in September 1920, and executed in 1945. She was Truus and Freddie's best friend, and helped the two with killing Nazis.

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The two sisters were part of the Dutch Resistance, and both became armed assassins for them. Their family would also take in Jews. They did this for many years, mainly around the early 1940s. They began with helping their mother distribute anti-Nazi newspaper and pamphlets for the resistance. Although, this was very dangerous, and they could possibly get killed by the Dutch police. But, they both looked younger, so it was hard to suspect they were part of the resistance.

In 1941, a commander from the Haarlem Resistance Group came to see Freddie and Truus. The commander told them to sabotage bridges and railway lines. He told them to shoot Nazis, but that was something they have never done before.

They became very good at this though, and Truus seduced an SS officer into the woods. This allowed someone else from the resistance to shoot the officer. The commander that recruited them said that overtime they did learn how to shoot Nazis.

They began to go on assassination missions by themselves. Although, later on, they focused on killing Dutch collaborators who arrested and/or endangered Jewish refugees and resistance members. In 1943, they joined forces with another young woman, Hannie Schaft. Together, the three women formed a sabotage and an assassination cell. Hannie was their best friend, and the two sisters had a hard time when she was executed. Nazis arrested her and killed her in 1945. According to lore, her last words were, "I'm a better shot." She was only wounded by her executioner.

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Truus Oversteegen seen with a gun sometime during World War II

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THE RESISTANCE Truus and Freddie Oversteegen: What'sHerName Podcast Episode 64

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Truus Oversteegen dressed as a man and Hannie Schaft with her hair dyed and wearing glasses, preparing for a mission.

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This website shows you more pictures of Truus, Freddie, and Hannie. It also shows you a video about them.

“There were a lot of women involved in the resistance in the Netherlands but not so much in the way these girls were. There are not that many examples of women who actually shot collaborators themselves.” Bas von Benda-Beckmann said about the girls.

“It was tragic and very difficult and we cried about it afterwards,” Truus said when Hannie died, and the war was difficult for them too.

“We did not feel it suited us,” Truss told Jonker of their assassinations. “It never suits anybody, unless they are real criminals."

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Freddie and Truus Oversteegen were just 14 and 16 years old when the Nazis invaded their hometown of Haarlem. Determined to do their part, the sisters joined the Dutch Resistance and began bombing trains, smuggling out Jewish children, and running refugee safehouses. But their most dangerous work by far was also the most unlikely for two young girls to ever take on: assassinating Nazi officers in broad daylight.

With our guest Sophie Poldermans, author of Seducing and Killing Nazis, discover this astounding true story of courage, camaraderie, and the fight to stay human in inhuman times.

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Sophie Poldermans is the author of the New York Post & Amazon best seller Seducing and Killing Nazis. Hannie, Truus and Freddie: Dutch Resistance Heroines of WWII (USA, 2019). She personally knew Truus and Freddie Oversteegen for 20 years and worked closely with them for over a decade as a board member of the National Hannie Schaft Foundation. Poldermans is the founder of "Sophie's Women of War," shedding light on women leaders in times of conflict, and a Dutch women's rights advocate, author, public speaker, lecturer and consultant on women and war, human rights-related issues from a legal, historical and sociological perspective and women's leadership. She has degrees in Dutch and International Human Rights and International Criminal Law (University of Amsterdam); Peace and Conflict Studies (UC Berkeley, USA); Human Rights and Democratization (EIUC, Venice, Italy; Vienna, Austria) and Women's Leadership (Yale School of Management). She has work experience as a lecturer in Conflict Resolution and International Human Rights and Criminal Law at several (international) universities.

Music featured in this episode included

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THE RESISTANCE Truus and Freddie Oversteegen - What'shername

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Freddie and Truus Oversteegen were just 14 and 16 years old when the Nazis invaded their hometown of Haarlem. Determined to do their part, the sisters joined the Dutch Resistance and began bombing trains, smuggling out Jewish children, and running refugee safehouses.

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They rescued many Jews, and Freddie and Truus both received a reward, the Mobilisation War Cross. They were awarded this by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte for their acts of resistance during the war. There is also a street named after them in Haarlem.

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A photo taken of Hannie Shaft (Freddie and Truus' partner) in prison right before her execution.

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Freddie and Truus Oversteegen at the hospital in Haarlem where they first met Hannie Schaftphoto courtesy of North Holland Archives

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Freddie and Truus Oversteegen as teenagers. 

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Many Jews were saved because of what they did to Nazis. Many Nazis died because of Freddie, Truus, and Hannie. Hannie Schaft was taken to prison and executed in around 1945. Truus says in an interview that "it was very tragic and difficult, and we cried afterwards."

When the war came to an end, the two dealt with the trauma of killing many and losing their best friend. Truus created sculptures to cope. Freddie coped by getting married and having many children. In a review, Freddie recalled seeing a person she'd shot fall to the ground and having the human impulse to want to help him.