Hannie Schaft by Grace Blaine

How'd she get involved?

29blainegrace — 2024-10-29 23:13:42 UTC

Hannie was a student studying law. This is where she met many of her Jewish friends. When approached with a declaration saying she supported the Nazi military in Holland, she refused to sign it. The consequence was her being kicked out of school, so as an alternative, she joined the Dutch Resistance. This is where she would become known as "The Girl with Red Hair".

Acts of Resistance

29blainegrace — 2024-10-30 22:59:39 UTC

Hannie started out small. Just stealing IDs and giving them to her Jewish friends. This quickly grew into her learning German to sabotage any plans for the Nazis. Then sabotaging plans to killing the Nazi officials and people who worked with them. At one point, Hannie was asked to kidnap children of the Nazi officials and kill them. She refused saying it would just be as bad as the Nazis awful acts. This is how she grew into being one of the most wanted people in the Netherlands.

29blainegrace — 2024-10-30 23:18:28 UTC

29blainegrace — 2024-10-30 23:21:02 UTC

A photo of Hannie in her early twenties.

How did the Nazis find out who The girl with red hair was?

29blainegrace — 2024-10-30 23:39:14 UTC

A fellow resister accidently told a nurse (who was secretly a Nazi) Hannie's name. Prior to this no one knew Hannie's name, they just called her the girl with red hair. The Nazi reported this and then the Nazis took Hannie's parents to a concentration camp in attempt to get her to stop. She stopped momentarily just to dye her hair black and start again.

Her Tragic Fate

29blainegrace — 2024-10-30 23:50:00 UTC

She died of execution, but it's not that simple. Let's start with her capture. She was caught at a military checkpoint with illegal underground pamphlets and a pistol. She was taken into custody where she would be tortured, interrogated and kept in solitary confinement. She would not say a word about who she was or what she was doing with the illegal pamphlets and pistol. Eventually, her hair began to grow out and her red roots became visible. That's how they identified her. An article from symbaloo states, "She was taken to the sand dunes of Bloemendaal by German soldiers and detective Maarten Kuijper. Mattheus Schmitz and the detective were the ones to lead her to the dunes. Schmitz was ultimately the one who pulled the trigger." He shot her twice. The first time, it only injured her, she said after she was shot the first time, "I could shoot better". The second shot was the fatal blow. She was buried in a shallow grave at the dunes. She was shot April 17, 1945, three weeks before the end of the war.

Her Impact

29blainegrace — 2024-10-30 23:58:53 UTC

Her actions and work are remembered every last Sunday in November.

Many streets and schools are named after her in her honor in the Netherlands. She was unburied and reburied in a proper burial site. A memorial was made in her honor. It's a statue of Hannie pulling two sides together. This is because she believed in unity and equality.

Song: Bang Bang

29blainegrace — 2024-10-31 00:02:45 UTC

I chose this because the many chorus goes "Bang, she shot me". It just seems very fitting for Hannie considering she was an assassin that shot Nazis.