Hannie Schaft

vorige


Lecturer's mission to honour heroine
The Northern Echo 11/08/2003 - Regional News

by Gavin Engelbrecht


A NORTH-EAST academic is on a mission to raise the profile of a Dutch resistance fighter who was known by the Gestapo as the girl with red hair.
Lecturer in popular culture Geoff Pattison has told of his admiration for Hannie Schaft after returning from her grave close to where she was executed by the Germans three weeks before the end of the Second World War.
He was taken to the site in Holland's Field of Honour in the Dunes by the heroine's comrade-in-arms Freddie Oversteegen and later met her sister Truus Oversteegen, who also fought in the same group.

 

Flowers from Geoff              Truus and Freddie aug03


Mr Pattison, of Stanley, County Durham, said: "It was as though it had happened yesterday."
Mr Pattison, of the University of Northumbria, began his quest after seeing the Dutch film The Girl with Red Hair.
Filmed in black and white, the only colour in the film is Hannie's red hair.
Mr Pattison said: "I was fascinated. The red hair was so iconic and I was determined to find out more about her."
A law student, Hannie joined the resistance in 1943. She soon became known by the Gestapo as the girl with red hair because of her striking locks and had to dye her hair black in an effort to disguise herself.
Hannie was captured in possession of a pistol while distributing illegal newspapers and was interrogated by Dutch Gestapo member Maarten Kuiper.
She was then taken to the dunes near Bloemendaal, where a German fired a shot grazing her head.
According to witnesses, she said "I'm a much better shot" before Kuiper machine gunned her.
Mr Pattison was able to meet the Oversteegen sisters with the help of Greet Plekker-van Sante of the Hannie Schaft Foundation.
He said: "Of 372 resistance fighters buried at the Field of Honour Hannie was the only woman. I hope to raise her profile and keep her memory alive."


Mr. Geoff Pattison zal de Violette Szabo Foundation vertegenwoordigen tijdens de Hannie Schaft-Herdenking van 26 november 2006. Zie hier meer informatie over Violette Szabo.