This book is a non-fiction historical account on the lives and resistance work of Dutch resistance heroines Hannie Schaft and the sisters Truus and Freddie Oversteegen (author Sophie Poldermans personally knew them for twenty years). It is based on first hand interviews with both the Oversteegen sisters and direct witnesses, historical facts and archival photographs.
This is so unique because the role of women in WWII has often been underrepresented or neglected.
In the Netherlands, ninety percent of the population tried to live their lives as normal as possible during the German occupation, five percent consisted of collaborators, and five percent joined the resistance, of which only a very small part were in the armed resistance, and of that group only a handful were women. These three young women were part of this very small group of women in the armed resistance. That is what makes this story so unique:
They were only teenagers of nineteen (Hannie), sixteen (Truus) and fourteen (Freddie) when WWII started. They met in the summer of 1943 in the resistance group the Council of Resistance.
Truus recounted, “A war like this is a very raw experience. While I was biking, I saw Germans picking up innocent people from the streets, putting them against a wall and shooting them. I was forced to watch, which aroused such an enormous anger in me, such a disgust, a feeling of ‘dirty bastards.’ You can have any political conviction or be totally against war, but at that moment you are just a human being confronted with something very cruel. Shooting innocent people is murder. If you experience something like this, you’ll find it justified that when people commit treason, such as exchanging a four-year-old Jewish child for 35 guilders (Dutch currency at that time), you act against it. (Page 51)
Below are excerpts from the book, Seducing and Killing Nazis. Hannie, Truus and Freddie: Dutch Resistance Heroines of WWII” based on an interview by Sophie Poldermans with Truus Oversteegen on February 28, 1998:The three young women made a great team: Hannie was the lawyer, the intellectual, Truus was a decisive, down-to-earth leader. Freddie was the intelligence, the one who would explore and map everything out in advance. (Page 45)
Truus recounted, “A war like this is a very raw experience. While I was biking, I saw Germans picking up innocent people from the streets, putting them against a wall and shooting them. I was forced to watch, which aroused such an enormous anger in me, such a disgust, a feeling of ‘dirty bastards.’ You can have any political conviction or be totally against war, but at that moment you are just a human being confronted with something very cruel. Shooting innocent people is murder. If you experience something like this, you’ll find it justified that when people commit treason, such as exchanging a four-year-old Jewish child for 35 guilders (Dutch currency at that time), you act against it. (Page 51)
See for more info on the book:
https://seducingandkillingnazis.com
Book in the media:
https://seducingandkillingnazis.com/media/
More info on Sophie Poldermans:
The book available through https://seducingandkillingnazis.com and Amazon in paper back and eBook
About the Author: Sophie Poldermans is the author of “Seducing and Killing Nazis. Hannie, Truus and Freddie: Dutch Resistance Heroines of WWII” (2019). She is the founder of “Sophie’s Women of War,” is a Dutch women’s rights advocate, author, public speaker, lecturer and consultant on women and war. 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. Please check out https://sophieswomenofwar.com or https://seducingandkillingnazis.com and follow on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or Goodreads.
