5. A Nazi All-Points-Bulletin for “The Girl With the Red Hair“
Truus Oversteegen’s best friend, Hannie Schaft, was among the teenaged resistance heroine’s comrades who were arrested and exectud by the Nazis. When the redheaded Hannie was spotted at the site of an assassination, the Germans issued an all-points bulletin that alerted their forces and security personnel to be on the lookout for “the girl with the red hair“. She was placed on the Nazis’ most wanted list. Hannie dyed her hair black to hide her identity, and continued her resistance work, until she was arrested at a checkpoint with illegal newspapers on her. After a series of brutal interrogations and tortures, she was executed on April 17th, 1945, just a few weeks before the end of WWII in Europe.
Reportedly, Schaft’s killers’ first fusillade only wounded her, so she taunted them “I shoot better than you“, before they managed to finish her off. Suspicion was rife that Truus’ and other left wing cells they had been deliberately betrayed by right wing members of the resistance. Dutch conservatives had been backwards in the actual fight against the Nazis, but came forward at the hour of liberation to claim the lion’s share of the credit. Despite the setbacks and daily dangers, Truus and Freddie Oversteegen courageously soldiered on and kept up the fight, and evaded capture despite sizeable rewards that were placed on their heads.
