12. Straitened Circumstances Under Nazi Occupation
The Oversteegen family lived in straitened financial conditions, exacerbated even further by the hardships and shortages of life under German occupation. However, they managed to get by. Their mother also continued the family’s tradition of harboring fugitives from oppression, by hiding a Jewish couple in their apartment during the war. As Freddie recalled decades later, that confused her at first, because the Jewish couple was capitalists, while the Oversteegens were committed communists.
It was against that backdrop that the Dutch resistance approached Truus and Freddie Oversteegen’s mother, and asked if she would allow her daughters to join the Council of Resistance – an organization with close ties to the Communist Party of the Netherlands. After all, who would suspect teenage girls of being members of the armed underground? Their mother consented, and the sisters eagerly accepted the invitation and joined the resistance.
