Freddie Oversteegen “I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides.”-Elie Wiesel. Even as a young teen girl in Europe during World War II, Freddie Oversteegen refused to be silenced. Freddie Oversteegen is most well known for her ability to create false pretences by flirting with Nazi soldiers, looking them into the woods and then killing them. Throughout her childhood, her parents, Jacob Oversteegen and Trijntje van der Molen, instilled in her a caring attitude and a need to help others. They made the family decision to house Jewish people in their apartment when Freddie was only 10. Later in World War II, Freddy, her sister Truss, and a friend named Hannie Schaft…show more content… However, they did have to work hard for their recognition. Sadly, Hannie Shaft died on April 17th, 1945, only three weeks before Nazi forces left the Netherlands. Before her death, Hannie had built a reputation for herself. She was called the “girl with the red hair.” She was very well known for her efforts in the war; while alive and after death, she inspired all women who were a part of the resistance. It is said that Hannie’s last words were “I’m a better shot” after her executor only wounded her on his first shot. On the other hand, the sisters were left with mental scarring, which in modern-day would have been diagnosed as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD. After the war, when the Cold War started, the Dutch government was trying to take control of the commemoration of Hannie Shaft and prevent it altogether. Freddie was deeply pained by this because, as Freddie had told her long-time friend and filmmaker Manon Hoornstra,“Hannie was her soulmate friend,” The lack of recognition for the communist resistance fighters, especially those close to her, made Freddie feel “alienated from the country she had fought for.” Freddie married an engineer at the local steel factory and started building a family. Many around Freddie thought that she had thrown herself into modern family life as a way to overcome the emotional trauma she suffered from the war. Her son said that what she held mainly was regret; “she hated it, and she hated herself for doing it.” Although Freddie knew what she was doing was saving the lives of countless innocent people, she also knew that the people she was killing had lives as well. Lives that they could not return to after she assassinated
