The Teenage Girls Who Flirted with Nazis Before Luring Them into Woods and Shooting Them

Courageous girls of the Dutch Resistance

Maya Oppenheim
The Independent

Red lipstick and shiny eye shadow were unlikely but important weapons deployed by members of the Dutch resistance when taking on Nazi soldiers.

Freddie and Truus Oversteegen, two sisters, and their best friend Hannie Schaft would put on their best clothes and fastidiously apply their make-up before going into bars to seek out unsuspecting targets.

The young girls, who were active in the Dutch resistance during the Second World War, would then strike up conversations with Nazi soldiers or Dutch collaborators. They would giggle and bat their eyelashes as they cajoled them into disclosing classified information.

Then they would lure them into the woods on the pretext of a “romantic walk” – and shoot them dead.

Freddie and Truus survived the war but Hannie, who is far more famous than the Oversteegen sisters, was caught and executed by the Nazis just three weeks before the war came to an end.

The last words she uttered are said to have been “I’m a better shot” after one of her executioners wounded her with the first attempt.

Sophie Poldermans was a close friend of Freddie and Truus, who both recently died at the age of 92, and intimately and regularly spoke to them about their memories of the war throughout their lives.

Ms Poldermans, a lawyer who specialises in women and war crimes, has now written about their harrowing experiences in a book titled Seducing and Killing Nazis – Hannie, Truus, and Freddie: Dutch Resistance Heroines of WWII.

Truus Oversteegan with a sten gun

“They were extremely brave women,” she told The Independent. “I would not want to have stood in their shoes. They started out small in the resistance – carrying illegal newspapers printed by the resistance news about Nazi troops. They would ride their bicycles and deliver them to specific addresses. They would also steal false identification papers for Jewish people in hiding.”

Freddie and Truus, who was two years older than her, were born and raised in Haarlem, a Dutch city close to Amsterdam, by a single mother.

The parents had divorced and their mother was a communist. She would get the young girls to make dolls for children who were victims of the Spanish Civil War.

Ms Poldermans, who worked with the siblings for over a decade as a board member of the National Hannie Schaft Foundation but also knew them personally, said Truus and Hannie would help transport Jewish children to safe houses but Freddie, 14 at the beginning of the war, had been too young to help.

“People also could have easily thought she was a Jewish child herself because of her appearance so it would have been too dangerous for her,” Ms Poldermans said. “But Truus and Hannie would take Jewish children from one safe house to another on their bikes if they knew there were traitors around. It was not suspicious for them to be carrying young children because they were women. They would sing songs to distract the children.”

But the three girls’ roles and tactics in the resistance grew increasingly dangerous as they got more heavily involved.

Freddie Oversteegen in 1945 (Sophie Poldermans)

“They would use explosives to blow up railway lines and trains to make sure Germans were not able to transport soldiers or weapons or Jewish people,” Ms Poldermans explains. “This was a heavier type of resistance. They wanted to make sure it was chaos on the railway line.”

It was not long before the teenage girls started seducing and shooting Nazis – with commanders assigning them particular targets.  

“These are the only three women we know of who seduced and killed Nazis in the Netherlands,” Ms Poldermans says. “That is what makes it such a unique story. They were teenagers and they were young and pretty. They would dress up very nicely and wear heavy make-up. They would pretend to be kraut girls who were local women who had relationships with German officers, Dutch traders (traitors?) and general members of the Nazi party. Of course, their main target was the high-ranking officers.”

She adds: “They would go into bars and then they would flirt with these soldiers and giggle and smile and be girly girls. They would say ‘We can go for a romantic walk in the forest’. They would lure these guys into the woods to try to extract all the information they needed and then they would shoot them right there on the spot. Freddie was about 16. Truus was 18 and Hannie was 21. They started in the summer of 1943 and carried on until the end of the war.”

Truus was a real tomboy who had never worn make-up before, whereas Hannie always powdered her face right before an assignment in order to “die beautifully” in case she was captured by the Nazis.

Ms Poldermans, who notes the girls never slept with the Nazis, said they would have to relocate if their profile started to become known in the area to ensure they were not recognised. The girls kept their actions a secret from everyone – even friends and family – for security purposes.

The sisters always refused to reveal how many Nazis they had killed when asked about it after the war – with Freddie telling Ms Poldermans: “One should not ask a soldier any of that.”

“They did what they did because it had to be done,” Ms Poldermans says. “They believed in justice. They did not believe there was another way. At the same time, they tried to remain human. They suffered from depression and had nightmares and what we would now call PTSD.”

The lecturer says it took a long time after the end of the war before the sisters got the recognition they deserved – explaining many people wanted to look forwards rather than backwards, and stories of the resistance were dominated by men.

Ms Poldermans adds: “They had to fight for recognition. Truus was very outspoken. She would always tell her story but Freddie was very traumatised. She couldn’t talk about the war and it was only in the last few years of her life that she could. Freddie got all the recognition for her work after she died. It is too bad she doesn’t know. 

“War affected everything in their lives. Truus became a well-known sculptor but the war was present in all of her artwork. The trauma never went away for them. Every day around liberation day in May, they would wake up screaming, having nightmares about the war. All the memories came back to them. It was so bad that Freddie would have to leave the country for a couple of months during that time of year.”

Maryland Governor Signs ‘No Means No’ Rape Law, Victims No Longer Need to Prove Resistance

Maryland State House. © Martin Falbisoner / Wikipedia

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan (R) signed several bills that intend to make it easier to prosecute rape cases and protect sexual crime victims.

On Tuesday, Hogan signed 211 bills into law during a ceremony at the state house, including SB 217, or “Criminal Law – Sexual Offenses – Physical Resistance,” which eliminates the requirement that victims of sexual crimes prove they physically resisted their assailants. 

“Making Maryland safer begins with making sure that we have a criminal justice system that holds offenders accountable for their actions and the harm they cause, while also supporting victims and the community in the process of healing,” Hogan said in a press release. 

Previously, victims of rape had to prove they did not consent and that their resistance was overcome by “force, or the threat of force,” according to Section 3-303 of Maryland Criminal Law. 

A 2016 BuzzFeed investigation into the Baltimore County Police Department found that the language in the law often allowed police to dismiss rape charges as “unfounded” if they believed that there wasn’t enough evidence that the victim fought back.

The investigation states that even if a victim submitted to sexual acts out of fear for their life, the assailant was able to “walk away without so much as a police interrogation.” Out of the 42 “unfounded” cases Buzzfeed investigated, 15 were dismissed because the victim did not resist enough. 

The bill, signed Tuesday, amends the law, specifically stating, “evidence of physical resistance by a victim is not required to prove that a sexual crime was committed.”

“Given that a victim increases their chances of being maimed or killed, if trying to physically resist the rape, this bill will clarify that a victim of rape does not have to fight the perpetrator or put up physical resistance in order for the court to hand down a guilty verdict,” State Senator Delores Kelley (D-District 10), who sponsored the bill, said on her website.

The bill was unanimously passed by both the State House and Senate before Hogan signed it into law Tuesday.

In addition, Hogan signed SB 308, the Protecting Victims of Sex Trafficking Act, which expands the definition of sexual abuse to include sex trafficking, even in cases where the sexual abuse is committed by a parent or guardian.

All of the laws signed Tuesday will take effect on October 1. 

Pope's Commission's Only Survivor of CSA Quits in Futility

Catholic church sex abuse victim quits Pope’s commission over ‘shameful resistance’ from officials

Catholic church sex abuse victim quits Pope’s commission over ‘shameful resistance’ from officials

Marie Collins has resigned from the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. 

© Alessandro Bianchi / Reuters

Irish sexual abuse victim Marie Collins has quit the commission which advises Pope Francis on how to tackle the clerical sexual abuse of children, over a “shameful” lack of cooperation from Vatican administrators.

The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors was set up by Pope Francis in March 2014. Since its inception it has been repeatedly dogged by internal disputes and resignations.

Collins, who was the only remaining Commission member to have suffered sexual abuse by a priest, said Vatican officials were hampering the work of the panel resulting in “constant setbacks.”

She rose to prominence in Ireland as a campaigner against clerical abuse almost 20 years ago when she challenged the late Cardinal Desmond Connell's failure to report her abuse at the hands of priest to police.

Although Collins’ resignation statement praised the pontiff for his "genuine wish” to address clerical sex abuse and his "sincere move” in setting up the commission, the move is a blow to Francis' efforts to demonstrate that the Catholic Church is serious about combating child sexual abuse

Collins’ resignation comes about after a year after the resignation of British man Peter Saunders, who was the only other member of the commission who was a victim of clerical sexual abuse. Saunders was also very critical of the commission's work.


Bishops not accountable for enabling pedophile priests

Saunders and Collins both threatened to resign in February 2015 as they were unhappy that bishops weren’t being held accountable for failing to prevent, and even covering up, sexual abuse.

Collins said her decision to resign followed an accumulation of frustrations at the hands of officials, known as Curia. “Despite the Holy Father approving all the recommendations made to him by the Commission, there have been constant setbacks. This has been directly due to the resistance by some members of the Vatican Curia to the work of the Commission.  The lack of cooperation, particularly by the dicastery most closely involved in dealing with cases of abuse, has been shameful,” her statement read.

The Roman Curia is the administrative apparatus of the Holy See and the central body through which the Roman Pontiff conducts the affairs of the universal Catholic Church.

The Dicasteries
Two departments of the Roman Curia established by Pope Francis in 2016 have been identified as "dicasteries" rather than as one of the traditional department types.

Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life

Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development


Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston, who heads the commission, thanked Collins for her work, saying: “We will certainly listen carefully to all that Marie wishes to share with us about her concerns and we will greatly miss her important contributions as a member of the Commission.”

The Vatican said the Pope had accepted her resignation "with deep appreciation for her work on behalf of the victims/survivors of clergy abuse."

So now, they proceed without anyone representing the victims of pedophile priests and the Bishops who enabled them. Are the Cardinals and Archbishops protecting themselves or the church from 'unnecessary' prosecution? They are certainly not 'coming clean' before God or man.

EUROPE IS BEING RAPED, BUT DON’T CRY; SHE SEEMS TO LIKE IT

An explosion lights the front of a kosher supermarket as French police special
forces launch their assault, where several people were taken hostage
in eastern Paris. Photo source: Reuters

By: Y.K. Cherson

The reports from France (for one week in January) look like the reports from a war; three days of attacks leaving 17 dead along with three terrorists, and this after several attacks in late December. One after another, all over France, leaving dozens of people wounded, hostages taken and shot, thousands of Police and RAID troops deployed, and ALL the strikes were perpetrated by Muslim converts and immigrants – or their first or second generation descendants. All the attacks were religiously motivated and accompanied by the sadly famous Muslim battle cry “Allahu Akbar,” “Allah is the Greatest.”

If this is not a religious war– then what is it?

Ah, I know; they are all just “lone wolf” attacks, without any link to one another, and of course, without any link to Islam, the “most peaceful” religion on Earth.

At least, this is what European- in general- (and French, in particular)- politicians say.

And those who killed people-mainly civilians and all non-Muslims- in Dijon, Nantes, Paris- they were not Muslims. They were some mysterious “Islamists” or “jihadists” who simply “do not interpret Islam correctly.” Islam is the religion of peace. And Muslim communities of course did not have any idea what these “black sheep” were going to do.

And we must be tolerant. And we should not blame many for the sins of the few. And we cannot answer violence with violence, because violence engenders more violence. And we must unite, join hands, and start a dialogue. And we must express our opposition to terrorism and protest- but peacefully, with placards “je suis Charlie” and flowers in our hands.

In this latest episode the perpetrators wanted to “die as martyrs,” and they were killed during the rampage. But this was not the case with the attacks last month and is atypical of what we normally see.

The traditional Western reaction, instead of shooting these terrorists right on the spot after catching them, covering them with pig skins to deny them any hope of getting to their Muslim “paradise,” is that we shall give them lawyers, treat them kindly, and sentence them to 25 life terms, (which is an absolute stupidity, because a human being has only one life to live)- but knowing full well that they will get out after serving just some 20 years in a civilized French jail, with a balanced diet, gym, swimming pool, television, newspapers- all this at the expense of the taxpayers including sons, daughters, wives, husbands and parents of those they killed  because they are humans, and we live in a democratic society…And blah blah blah, according to European mainstream media and television talk shows.

Are you not tired of this sickening lie, my dear civilized and tolerant Europeans? Do you not understand that you are being killed, as a people and as a civilization? That those Muslims you accepted in your nice, tiny, comfortable countries live by other laws and confess entirely different values, the principal one being that “Islam must dominate the world,” and that your tolerant laws for them are just a sign of weakness, and you and your “democracy” are for them nothing but a legitimate- and easy- military target?

Or maybe the perspective of losing your countries and your entire civilization means nothing to you? Oh, yes, I forgot: you are not French, German, British; you are “citizens of the World”! Motherland, patriotism, national pride, “it’s my country”…What an obsolete and old-fashioned nonsense! A drink, good food and a one night stand can be gotten anywhere.

A good friend of mine has been working with the police for 10 years as a consultant and interpreter in one very nice and calm European country, quite similar to what France used to be some 20 years ago. He has been a part of the investigation of hundreds of cases of rape and has noticed a very curious fact; women from Western European countries DO NOT RESIST!

They beg and cry and implore a rapist not to rape them – but they do not fight and obediently do what they  are told to do. And when they tell about what happened, they – you just imagine- carefully avoid words like “Arab,” “Pakistani” or “Black,” although it’s no secret that between 60% and 90% of all rapes in European countries are committed by this category of immigrants. How the media , schools and governments should brainwash them if they do not forget about political correctness even after being raped!

And women from Russia, Ukraine, Belorussia, as well as from Arab countries – fight, and fight desperately. And quite often, they arrive to the police station badly bruised and bleeding- but not raped. And they do not hesitate for a second to say that the guy who tried to rape them was Arab, or Pakistani, or Black.

Women  are the soul of the people. And the people whose women obediently assume the position some dirty rapist orders them to assume and only beg and cry are a people of slaves.

Europe for the last 200 years has been more than ready to fall on her back before any rude and cruel invader, from Napoleon to Hitler and Stalin. But they at least were the leaders of powerful countries and mighty armies! Cruel, ruthless, monsters, yes; but outstanding. And now Europe is  falling on her back before some bunch of Muslim immigrants – and refuses to recognize that she is behaving like an old whore.

So, don’t cry that you are being raped, Europeans; looks like you like it.