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On Internet: essay about Hannie Schaft by Tracey Brouwer, Ireland
(English text)
Resistance in the Netherlands
during WWII
by: Sophie Poldermans, member of the board
The Netherlands were occupied by the German nazi’s during the Second World War
from May 10, 1940 till May 5, 1945. During the war there were only a few people
who offered active resistance. Most people hold aloof and were passive, but were
very anti-(nazi)german. They were scared, (thought) they couldn’t do anything
and tried to go on with their normal lives in order to protect their families.
There was some passive resistance as listening to ‘Radio Orange’, the illegal
radio transmitter where Queen Wilhelmina, who had fled to England in the
beginning of the war, held speeches, and reading illegal newspapers. Many people
supported the resistance groups by hiding persons in their homes (400 000
persons), and feeding them, which cost a lot of money which was hard to collect
during the war. Also people passed the illegal newspapers on to other people to
spread the news.
About 5 % of the people were collaborators. They betrayed Jews in hiding and
cooperated with the Germans. Another 5 % of the people offered active resistance.
And only a small part exised of armed resistance, which was difficult because it
was and still is illegal to keep and bear arms in the Netherlands.
Hannie Schaft
 Jannetje Johanna Schaft was born on September 16, 1920. Her nickname was Jo or
Jopie. Hannie was the name she used later on in the resistance group. She grew
up in the northern part of Haarlem (a city 12 miles west of the capital
Amsterdam), where she lived with her parents and her 5 year older sister Annie.
Annie died in 1927 from diphtheria.
Jo was very quiet and shy. She was very good at school, her GPA (Grade Point
Average) was even the highest of her class. The political development in Germany
was a frequently discussed subject in her family. They were worried about Hitler
and his national socialism in Germany, but also about Mussert and his national
socialistic party in the Netherlands.
At the time the war broke out, Hannie went to law school at the university of
Amsterdam. From the moment that the Germans occupied Poland in 1939 on, Hannie
tried to help. She sent small packages to captured Polish officers with a
program of the International Red Cross.
When the Germans occupied Holland, Hannie tried to help people too and she
offered resistance. An example is that when the Jews weren’t allowed to walk
in a park anymore in 1941 Hannie said: ‘If they aren’t allowed to walk there,
I won’t walk there either’. Little by little she got more involved with the
resistance movement. From 1942 on all Jews had to wear a yellow star. When the
need for false identity cards increased to help Jews in hiding, Hannie stole
identity cards in all sorts of public areas for them. In the spring of 1943
there were several razzia’s at the universities. Later the Germans announced
that every college graduate had to go to Germany to work there for a while and
finally the college students who wanted to continue their education had to sign
a loyalty affidavit to the Germans. Hannie didn’t sign and so she quit school.
Hannie Schaft and her resistance group
She went back to Haarlem, where she joined the RVV, the council of resistance.
She said that food aid wasn’t enough for her, she was willing to offer armed
resistance. The RVV ordered her and another member of the group to
‘eliminate’ an officer of the German secret police, the Sicherheits Dienst.
Hannie was scared to death but she fired. Instead of a shot, a click was heard
and nothing happened. The SD officer introduced himself as Frans van der Wiel,
the commandant of the resistance group. It appeared to be a test. Although
Hannie had past the test, she was furious.
Hannie got to know many people who were involved with the resistance. That is
how she met Truus Oversteegen and her sister Freddie, who were also members of
the resistance group. Hannie was 19, Truus was 16 and Freddie only 14 at the
beginning of the war.
Truus became the leader when they worked
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together because
Hannie was a bit dreamy, according to Truus, and Freddie was still too young.
Most of the work existed of spreading illegal newspapers, transportation of
weapons, stealing and/or falsifying identity cards, sabotage, disguising as
German girls to extract information from the German soldiers and bringing Jewish
children to hiding places. Hannie took also part in bigger actions. In November
1943 Hannie and a few other members of the resistance group tried to blow up a
power station near Haarlem. Only a part of the explosives did actually explode,
so only one transport system was damaged. Although the attempt didn’t work for
one hundred percent, it gave the people hope.
Hannie also eliminated several members of the German secret police and Dutch
collaborators. One example is that on March 15, 1945 Hannie and Truus saw Ko
Langendijk, a hairdresser who betrayed people for money. Hannie and Truus shot
him. They hide in a hotel afterwards. Remarkably was that Hannie powdered her
face because she wanted to die pretty. Luckily they didn’t get caught.
Hannie had to be very careful. She couldn’t tell her parents anything about
her work for the resistance group. The nazi’s were looking for her, so she was
obliged to dye her hair black and to wear glasses made out of clear glass.
Hannie’s death
On March 21, 1945 Hannie was arrested at a routine checking because she had
illegal newspapers and her pistol in her bag. Soon the Germans recognized her as
the girl with the red hair, for whom they had been looking for so long. On
April 17, 1945 she was executed in the dunes.
Truus and Freddie Oversteegen
After the war, Truus and Freddie had to go on with their lives, despite the
difficulty of that. Because the RVV, the resistance group they had belonged to,
had originally been a communistic group, it gave some problems during the Cold
War, although some members like Hannie were no communists. The Hannie Schaft
commemoration of 1952 was forbidden and there were some riots.
Because Truus came from a communistic background she was first denied to make a
sculpture of Hannie Schaft in Haarlem. Finally she could because she had won,
anonymously, the contest of designing a sculpture. She had been Hannie’s close
friend, had worked together with her in the resistance group, had lived in
Haarlem and is a sculptor. She is very famous now. She has made some of the
great war memorials in the Netherlands, in South Africa, and all over the world,
she gives speeches at schools all over the world and wrote a book: "Not then, not now, not ever",
about her war experiences. Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands bestowed the honour
of a decoration on Truus, despite her refuse of recognition because she doesn’t
feel like she is a hero.
Commemoration
The re-burial of Hannie Schaft took place on November 27, 1945. Queen Wilhelmina
called her ‘symbol of resistance’ and bestowed a decoration of honour on
her. Hannie also got posthumously the ‘Medal of Freedom’ from General
Eisenhower.
Every year, since November 1945, Hannie Schaft has been commemorated on the
‘Cemetery of Honour’ in Overveen. In 1991/1992 only six people were present.
These six people formed a committee and organized the National Commemoration in
the centre of Haarlem for the first time. On June 3, 1996 ‘The National Hannie
Schaft Commemoration Organization’ had been founded. The Organization still
organizes the annual commemoration ceremony on the last
Sunday in November, where Hannie Schaft is commemorated as a person and as a
symbol for resistance, to make people aware of the fact that we still have to
offer resistance to racism, fascism and discrimination.
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