# data[].attributes.body
Freddie and truus oversteegen grow up in harlem where they were raised by a single mother.In 1940 ,Germany invaded the netherlands and truus and freddie oversteegen had been recruited by the local dutch resistance . The sisters did not know what they were actually there for they go to know after they were rectited . “Only later did he tell us what we’d actually have to do: Sabotage bridges and railway lines,” Truus Menger-Oversteegen recalled in a 2014 book, “Under Fire: Women and World War II.” “We told him we’d like to do that.” This was something new for the sisters but they were still interested .

# data[].attributes.headline
Reason why I picked the oversteegen sisters . 

# data[].attributes.subject
Reason why I picked the oversteegen sisters . 

# data[].attributes.body
What interested me the most was the fact that they killed just to help the jewish people escape from the Nazie .The Oversteegen sisters and their bestfriend Hannie helped kill nazie officals so they could help smuggle jewish kids into the emergency hospital so they could be safe . "Their other duties in the Haarlem Resistance Group included “bringing Jewish [refugees] to a new hiding place, working in the emergency hospital" (This Teenager Killed Nazis With Her Sister During WWII). In my opinion i think that what the sisters did was not wrong because they were trying their best to make sure that the jewish people that were targeted by the Nazie were safe but i also think they should have done other things than killing them .

# data[].attributes.headline
Freddie and Truus oversteegen( act of resistance and the impact on the resistance) 

# data[].attributes.subject
Freddie and Truus oversteegen( act of resistance and the impact on the resistance) 

# data[].attributes.body
Freddie oversteegen was only 14 when she joined the dutch resistance during World War II,  years later she  became one of its armed assassins. Together her and her sister truus oversteegen and their best friend Hanna schaft seduced and killed many of the nazie officials .That's where you get the name seduced and killed . They worked together in a small group with truus ,freddie and Hannie . They worked in a group of 3 because they did not want to get caught while they were on their task . The oversteegen sisters and Hannie Schaft helped smuggle and help escape jewish children away from the nazie and this was the impact that they had in the world today and back then .

# data[].attributes.body
https://youtu.be/z_zUSceFgE0

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Never Again - Holocaust Remembrance Song

# data[].attributes.body
Seduced and killed

Freddie and truus oversteegen seduced many nazi men and killed them . There were so many that they assassinated that there is no count of how many men . They had help from their bestfriend hannie Schaft,  who was later killed at the age of 24. She was shot dead three weeks before the end of the war.They helped smuggle jewish children into the country and they helped them escape concentration camps .

# data[].attributes.body
Both the oversteegen sisters died at the age of 92. Freddie oversteegen died with a heart attack and truus oversteegen died naturally .  Freddie died a day before she turned 93 .

# data[].attributes.body
When the war ended the sisters were traumatized due the killings of the people they killed and their loved ones .The oversteegen sisters felt like they were killing the nazie officals to help the jewish people escape. While  they were killing many of these officials they were scared that they might be killed because if they were caught they were to be killed .  Throughout much of their long lives, the Netherlands failed to properly recognize the women’s achievements, and sidelined them as communists. In 2014, they finally received national recognition for their service to their country by receiving the Mobilisatie-Oorlogskruis, or “War Mobilization Cross.”it took them so long to be recognized for their help during  world war II.

# data[].attributes.body
'' we did not feel it suited us” truss told konker of their assassination .” it never suits somebody ,unless they are real criminals . This is showing that the oversteegen sisters did not know what they were doing . They felt like what they were doing was for real criminals not them .

# data[].attributes.body
This will give more information on seduced and killed .

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Freddie Oversteegen was only 14 when she joined the Dutch resistance during World War II, and only a couple of years older when she became one of its armed assassins. Together with her sister-and later, a young woman named Hannie Schaft-the trio lured, ambushed and killed German Nazis and their Dutch collaborators.

Sabotage and Assassination Missions against Nazis and Collaborators

Freddie and her sister Truus, who was two years older, grew up in the city of Haarlem with a single, working-class mother. Their mother considered herself a communist and taught her daughters the importance of fighting injustice. When Europe was on the brink of war in 1939, she took Jewish refugees into their homes.

Through their mother's example, Freddie and Truus "learned that if you have to help somebody, like refugees, you have to make sacrifices for yourself," says Jeroen Pliester, chair of the National Hannie Schaft Foundation. "I think that was one of the main drivers for them, the high moral principle and preparedness of their mother to act when it really matters."

The Roles of Women in the Dutch Resistance

In May 1940, Nazis invaded the Netherlands, beginning an occupation that lasted until the end of the war. In response, the girls joined their mother in distributing anti-Nazi newspapers and pamphlets for the resistance.

"We also glued warnings across German posters in the street calling men to work in Germany," Freddie later recalled in interviews she and her sister did with anthropologist Ellis Jonker, collected in the book Under Fire: Women and World War II. "And then we'd hurry off, on our bikes."

These acts weren't just subversive, they were also dangerous. If the Nazis or Dutch police caught the sisters, they might have killed them. However, the fact that they were both young girls-and Freddie looked even younger when she wore braids-meant that officials were less likely to suspect them of working for the resistance. This might be one of the reasons why, in 1941, a commander with the Haarlem Resistance Group visited their house to ask their mother if he could recruit Freddie and Truus.

Their mother consented and the sisters' agreed to join. "Only later did he tell us what we'd actually have to do: sabotage bridges and railway lines," Truus told Jonker. "'And learn to shoot, to shoot Nazis,' he added. I remember my sister saying: 'Well, that's something I've never done before!'"

In at least one instance, Truus seduced an SS officer into the woods so that someone from the resistance could shoot him. As the commander who recruited them had said, Freddie and Truus learned to shoot Nazis too, and the sisters began to go on assassination missions by themselves. Later on, they focused on killing Dutch collaborators who arrested or endangered Jewish refugees and resistance members.

"They were unusual, these girls," says Bas von Benda-Beckmann, a former researcher at the Netherlands' Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies. "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."

On these missions, Freddie was especially good at following a target or keeping a lookout during missions since she looked so young and unsuspecting. Both sisters were shot to kill, but they never revealed how many Nazis and Dutch collaborators they assassinated. According to Pliester, Freddie would tell people who asked that she and her sister were soldiers, and soldiers don't say.

Consequently, we don't have too many details about how their "liquidations," as they called them, played out. Benda-Beckmann says that sometimes they would follow a target to his house to kill him or ambush them on their bikes.

Their other duties in the Haarlem Resistance Group included "bringing Jewish [refugees] to a new hiding place, working in the emergency hospital in Enschede... [and] blowing up the railway line between Ijmuiden and Haarlem," writes Jonker. In 1943, they joined forces with another young woman, Hannie Schaft.

Hannie was a former university student who dropped out because she refused to sign a pledge of loyalty to Germany. Together, the three young women formed a sabotage and assassination cell. Hannie became their best friend, and the sisters were devastated when Nazis arrested and killed her in 1945, just three weeks before the war ended in Europe. According to lore, Hannie's last words were, "I'm a better shot," after initially only being wounded by her executioner.

The Aftermath of World War II for the Oversteegen Sisters

After the war, the sisters dealt with the trauma of killing people and losing their best friend. Truus created sculptures and later spoke and wrote about their time in the resistance. Freddie coped "by getting married and having babies," as she told VICE Netherlands in 2016. But the experience of war still caused her insomnia. In another interview, Freddie recalled seeing a person she'd shot fall to the ground and having the human impulse to want to help him.

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

Both women died at age 92-Truus in 2016, and Freddie on September 5, 2018, one day before she turned 93. Throughout much of their long lives, the Netherlands failed to properly recognize the women's achievements and sidelined them as communists. In 2014, they finally received national recognition for their service to their country by receiving the Mobilisatie-Oorlogskruis, or "War Mobilization Cross."

HISTORY Vault: World War II

Fact Check

We strive for accuracy and fairness. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
This Teenager Killed Nazis With Her Sister During WWII | HISTORY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Freddie and Truus Oversteegen sometimes ambushed Nazi officers from their bicycles-and never revealed how many they had assassinated.

# data[].attributes.body
Before long, the girls were tasked with carrying out assassinations of Germans and Dutch collaborators. Using their youthful appearance, they lured German officers into the woods – either while on patrol or in a local tavern – and shot them. According to Freddie, it was something they had to do. “It was a necessary evil, killing those who betrayed the good people,” she said. The oversteegen sisters were asked to seduced the  nazie officials so they could help kill them .

# data[].attributes.body
The Oversteegen sisters  burned down a Nazi warehouse they did this by flirting with the guards as a distraction after that the 2 sisters were taken to an underground potato shed and taught how to shoot .Some of their targets were dutch collaborators who gave the Nazie details of the jewish and dissident families .They helped smuggle jewish children through the netherlands ,sometimes even as bombs fell . this shows their dedication and their impact on the war and how they were dedicated to help rescue those kids .

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
There were many active resistance movements throughout the course of World War II. In countries where the German Army had invaded, they worked tirelessly to sabotage their occupiers. While the majority of members were male, there were numerous female fighters who used their good looks and inconspicuous nature to gain the upper hand.

Freddie and Truus Oversteegen

Truus and Freddie Oversteegen grew up in the Dutch city of Haarlem with their single mother. Freddie was two years younger than Truus and looked even younger when she wore her hair in braids, something that worked in her favor when she joined the Dutch resistance.

Their mother was a communist, and from a young age taught them the importance of fighting injustice. When the war broke out in 1939, she taught hid people from Lithuania and a Jewish couple in their home. This influenced the girls' later actions, as they learned they needed to make sacrifices in order to help others.

Joining the Dutch resistance

In May 1940, the Germans invaded the Netherlands, beginning an occupation that lasted until the end of the war. As in other countries they'd invaded, there were extensive efforts to remove Jews, while non-Jewish residents were forced to contend with terrible living conditions.

The invasion activated Truus and Freddie's rebellious spirit. The pair joined their mother in distributing anti-German pamphlets and newspapers for the resistance. This caught the attention of Frans van der Wiel, a commander with the Haarlem Resistance Group, who visited the Oversteegen home and asked the girls' mother if they could join the resistance - she agreed.

At the time, Freddie and Truus didn't know what working with the resistance would entail. To start, they were tasked with disabling bridges and railroads with dynamite, particularly the rail line between Ijmuiden and Haarlem. They also burned down a German warehouse, and aided in the smuggling of Jewish children out of the country - they even helped them escape concentration camps.

The girls' gender aided in their success, as resistance activities were largely viewed as being conducted by males. The Germans assumed women were only involved in distributing newspapers and other documents. Given they were female - and not to mention young - they were able to skirt by with little suspicion.

Teaming up with Hannie Schaft to become assassins

Before long, the girls were tasked with carrying out assassinations of Germans and Dutch collaborators. Using their youthful appearance, they lured German officers into the woods - either while on patrol or in a local tavern - and shot them. According to Freddie, it was something they had to do. "It was a necessary evil, killing those who betrayed the good people," she said.

In 1943, the sisters joined up with Hannie Schaft, a former university student who'd dropped out after refusing to sign a loyalty pledge to Germany. She'd started out with small acts, such as stealing identification cards for Jewish people. When she began assassinating Germans, she became known as "the girl with the red hair."

The trio formed an assassination and sabotage cell. Along with assassinations, they hid firearms in the baskets of their bicycles, and at one point erected a communist flag at the headquarters of the National Socialist Movement. They were so efficient that, by the end of the war, there was a 50,000 guilders reward for their capture.

On March 21, 1945, Hannie was arrested at a military checkpoint in Haarlem while in possession of the illegal communist newspaper, de Waarheid. She was subsequently interrogated, and on April 17, 1945 was executed by Dutch officials. Following the conclusion of the war, she was buried with honors in the presence of Queen Wilhelmina and Prince Bernhard, and today over 15 cities in the Netherlands have streets named after her.

Truus and Freddie never revealed how many people they killed throughout the duration of their resistance work. When asked, Freddie replied that they were soldiers and soldiers don't reveal such details.

Post-war struggles and recognition

Following the war, Freddie and Truus struggled with the trauma of their friend's death and the murders they'd committed. To cope, Truus became an artist and spoke at war memorial services. Freddie coped "by getting married and having babies," yet nothing could help the insomnia she suffered.

The pair didn't immediately receive recognition for their actions, as they were labelled as communists. In 1967, Truus was recognized as Righteous Among the Nations, an honor bestowed by the State of Israel upon non-Jewish individuals who risked their lives during the war. It wasn't until April 2014 that the Netherlands recognized their efforts, awarding them the War Mobilization Cross.

Both Freddie and Truus have since passed away. Truus died in June 18, 2016, while Freddie passed on September 5, 2018.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
These Sisters Joined the Dutch Resistance, Took Out Numerous Germans

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
There were many active resistance movements throughout the course of World War II. In countries where the German Army had invaded, they worked tirelessly to sabotage their occupiers. While the majority of members were male, there were numerous female fighters who used their good looks and inconspicuous nature to gain the upper hand.

# data[].attributes.body
" Freddie recalled seeing a person she’d shot fall to the ground and having the human impulse to want to help him.“We did not feel it suited us,” Truss told Jonker of their assassinations. “It never suits anybody, unless they are real criminals.”