The Trio by HADLEY HERTZ

Freddie Oversteegen, and Truus Oversteegen. The beginning

hh8579978_ — 2024-04-17 20:05:27 UTC

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.

The Motivation

hh8579978_ — 2024-04-17 20:08:13 UTC

Through their mother's example they learned that "if you have to help somebody, like refugees, you have to make sacrifices for yourself,”. They had grown up believing to act when it really matters. So when the Nazis invaded they decided to act.

Taking Action

hh8579978_ — 2024-04-17 20:19:01 UTC

In 1941, a commander with the Haarlem Resistance Group visited their house to ask their motehr if he could recruit Freddie and Truus. The mother agreed so they joined, not knowing what they would have to do as resistance. They were told to learn how to shoot Nazis, sabotage bridges and railways, and seduce. Truus seduced an SS officer she was luring him into the woods so that then someone from the resistance could shoot him.

Adding a Member

hh8579978_ — 2024-04-17 20:19:40 UTC

They then added another member to help them with their assassinations her name was Hannie Schaft. Later on they started to focus on killing Dutch collaborators, who arrested or harmed Jewish refugees. They also helped with bringing Jewish refugees into new hiding places. Hannie had become Truus' and Freddie's best friend, they were devastated when she was arrested and killed in 1945. Hannie's last words were "I'm a better shot".

The Aftermath

hh8579978_ — 2024-04-18 18:53:15 UTC

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, but still the experience with the war caused her insomnia. The girls might have regretted their decisions, but they may not as well. They saved many life's by fighting, and resisting.

Not so Ordinary

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“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." The three staged drive-by shootings from their bicycles; seductively lured German soldiers from bars to nearby woods, where they would execute them; and sheltered fleeing Jews, political dissidents, gay people and others who were being hunted by the invaders.

Not as Strong as they Seem

hh8579978_ — 2024-04-18 19:01:13 UTC

Yes, I’ve shot a gun myself and I’ve seen them fall,” Freddie Oversteegen told a TV interviewer. “And what is inside us at such a moment? You want to help them get up.”“What about the six million Jews?” she said. “Weren’t they innocent people? Killing them was no act of reprisal. We were no terrorists. The real act of terror was the kidnapping and execution of innocent people after the resistance acted". Freddie and Truus may seem stone cold, but they have feelings. They could barely think about all the Jews in hiding that they left, they had been murdered, beat, and kidnapped.

Death

hh8579978_ — 2024-04-18 19:13:34 UTC

Freddie Oversteegen died September 5th, 2018. Three days before her birthday, she died in a nursing home in the Driehuis, Netherlands she was 92 years old. Truus Oversteegen died June 18th, 2016 in the Grootbroek, Netherlands she was 92 years old when she died. Hannie Schaft died April 17th, 1945. She was shot by Dutch Nazi Officials, she was walking a an officer fired a gun and the bullet ricochets off her skull and doesn't kill her. Then another officer shot her in the head and she died.

The Words Of A Wise One

hh8579978_ — 2024-04-18 19:23:07 UTC

“It was a necessary evil, killing those who betrayed the good people.” -Freddie Oversteegen

It was necessary to kill and sabotage the German Nazis, because they harmed and killed innocent Jews, for no reason.

Websites

hh8579978_ — 2024-04-18 19:23:57 UTC

https://www.history.com/news/dutch-resistance-teenager-killed-nazis-freddie-oversteegen