The 90-Year-Old Woman Who Seduced Nazis As A Teenager, Then Led Them To Their Deaths
Through the horror of war, amazing stories of hope, bravery and brilliance always emerge.
90-year-old Freddie Oversteegen’s story is one of the above. When she was just 14, her mother was convinced by a member of the Dutch resistance to enlist Freddie and her sister Truus in the fight against the Nazis, arguing that “no one would suspect two young girls of being resistance fighters.”
So they joined, and alongside the famous Hannie Schaft, were charged with seducing Nazis and leading them to their deaths. When they first joined up the girls were told they would be “starting some kind of secret army”, but as Freddie explained to Vice Netherlands, the girls would meet Nazi collaborators in bars and restaurants and then ask if they wanted to go for a “walk in the woods”. But instead of being greeted by a naughty fumble, they were hit by bullets of resistance from soldiers hiding in the darkness:
” Truus had met him in an expensive bar, seduced him and then took him for a walk in the woods. She was like: “Want to go for a stroll?” And of course he wanted to. Then they ran into someone – which was made to seem a coincidence, but he was one of ours – and that friend said to Truus: “Girl, you know you’re not supposed to be here.” They apologised, turned around, and walked away. And then shots were fired, so that man never knew what hit him. They had already dug the hole, but we weren’t allowed to be there for that part.”
Their friend Hannie sadly died at the end of the war in April 1945, but her memory has been commemorated in Dutch culture through her name being given to streets and schools and her life being portrayed in a movie called The Girl With The Red Hair. Freddie’s sister Truus also rose to prominence after the war, through her art and public speaking about her experiences, but up until now Freddie’s story had remained relatively unknown:
“I have always been a little jealous of her [Hannie Schaft] because she got so much attention after the war. But then I’d just think, “I was in the resistance as well.”
That she was. What an amazing story.