Women in Resistance
speech by Elissa Klaassen at karrakatta war cemetry, on the occasion of 4th of may 2004


War in the past and still today has largely been fought both physically and politically by men. So when asked to talk about women in resistance I sadly realised that other than the odd Joan of Arc story, I knew very little about the role of women during war in general. I knew that in the past women were not allowed to join the army. So I wondered what their role could be in resistance.
I soon learned that in the Netherlands women played a vital role in the resistance. It was mainly women who took a huge risk by hiding Jewish people or resistance fighters in their family home as part of a network that successfully hid many people. Not only that, there was also women like Hannie Schaft and her friends, sisters Truus and Freddie Oversteegen who actively fought in the resistance.
At a time when women seem to have held even fewer positions of power than they do today Hannie, Truus and Freddie had to fight more than just their enemy, they actually had to fight for their right to fight. But they demonstrated their bravery and skill and earned the respect of their male peers. In fact, it was realised that as women they were invaluable as the occupying army was not initially suspicious of them.
It was not expected that women could or would carry out such acts of sabotage or extinction. As a woman, I admire the courage and determination of these women in resistance.

Hannie Schafts story made me wonder what women caught up in war in cultures were women have very little rights were really doing. Were there female resistance fighters in countries where women are not even allowed to show their face in public? I came across the story of Meena.
Meena was born in 1956 in Kabul, Afghanistan. Meena represented the Afghan resistance movement at the time. Her active social work and effective advocacy against the views of the fundamentalists and the Russian forces lead to her assassination by agents of the Afghanistan branch of the KGB in 1987.
However, before her assassination Meena laid the foundation of RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of the Woman of Afghanistan in 1977. RAWA became directly involved in the resistance. This organisation of Afghan women fights for human rights and social justice in Afghanistan and was conceived to give voice to the deprived silent women of Afghanistan. The women of RAWA continue the struggle against oppression by Islamic fundamentalist's and their incredibly anti-women orientation today.
Women remain appallingly oppressed in Afghanistan, but these women in resistance continue to fight for their right to an education and healthcare, to step out of their house without requiring the accompaniment of a man, against the fundamentalist warlords currently being reinstated to power, for their freedom, even at the risk of their life.
So spare a thought for those women in resistance across the world who are still fighting for their freedom today.

By Elissa Klaassen 30/4/04


(So, today I'm going to talk to you about what the story of Hannie Schaft 'the girl with the red hair' meant to me 'Surely they didn't just darn the mens' socks or make them cups of tea. So what I most admire is that they were not prepared to go against their morals to carry out orders. As you are aware the story of 'the girl with the red hair' ends tragically. But to me, more tragic than Hannie's execution was the events that took place later at an event intended to commemorate Hannie Schaft in 1952. The politics of the Netherlands at the time resulted in a march that began with wreaths and flowers being greeted as it drew closer to Hannie Schafts grave by guns and tanks. People from different social classes, religions and beliefs who had once fought a common enemy together now seemed enemies to each other. It seemed heart breaking that a country these women had fought so passionately to defend could now see them as the enemy. And I wondered what this could mean for resistance fighters today.)