The Sisters Who Fought Nazis By Seducing Them
They were only teens when they joined the fight against Nazi occupation.
Our Unsung Heroes series brings history’s unknown badasses out of the footnotes and into the spotlight.
Rumor has it Emilia Clarke of “Game of Thrones” fame has signed on to star as Dutch Resistance fighter Hannie Schaft in an upcoming remake of the 1981 film “The Girl With the Red Hair.”
Hannie was only in her early 20s when she left law school to join the fight against Nazi occupation. She was arrested on March 21st, 1945, just as World War II was ending.
Of 422 Resistance members, she was the only woman executed. According to lore, during the execution a guard’s bullet missed her; she taunted him, boasting, “I’m a better shot.” These were her last words, spoken at the age of 24.
Before her death, Hannie was a member of one of the most famous Dutch Resistance cells, which included five men and three women. The other two women were teenage sisters named Truus and Freddie Oversteegen. Despite their young age, the sisters conspired with their fellow fighters to help end the occupation by any means necessary — even if it meant seducing the enemy.
