The astonishing true story of three fearless teenagers who wielded their youth and innocence as weapons of resistance in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands of WWII. Award-winning historian Tim Brady brings to light the remarkable daring of Dutch sisters Truus and Freddie Oversteegen and their red-haired friend Hannie Schaft in this “moving story spotlighting the extraordinary heroism of everyday people during the war and the Holocaust” (Publishers Weekly).Truus Oversteegen, her younger sister Freddie, and their friend Hannie Schaft were just teenagers when the commander of The Dutch Royal Army surrendered to the Nazis. Overnight, nine million Netherlanders were suddenly under the heel of the Nazi boot. As Third Reich troops swarmed their hometown, the girls sought out a small resistance cell in the Dutch city of Haarlem.
Beginning with covert acts of resistance – lifting German ID cards to counterfeit, spreading news about strikes, distributing anti-Nazi literature – the girls soon were called on for bigger jobs with higher stakes, from gathering intelligence to detonating bombs. “With nothing to lose but their own lives,” Hannie, Truus, and Freddie took terrifying direct action against Nazi targets. They sheltered Jews, political dissidents, and Dutch resisters. They sabotaged bridges and railways. Disguised, they rescued children from being sent to concentration camps. They covertly transported weapons and set military facilities ablaze. And they carried out the assassinations of German soldiers and traitors—on public streets and in private traps—with the courage and daring of veteran guerilla fighters and seasoned spies.
Harrowing, emotional, and unforgettable,
Three Ordinary Girls finally moves these three icons of resistance into the deserved forefront of world history.
The astonishing true story of three fearless female resisters during WWII whose youth and innocence belied their extraordinary daring in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands…
Truus Oversteegen, her younger sister Freddie, and their friend Hannie Schaft, were just teenagers when the commander of The Dutch Royal Army surrendered to the Nazis. Overnight, nine million Netherlanders were suddenly under the heel of the Nazi boot. As the German-controlled government slowly began to pen in the entire Jewish community and force them indoors, along with the requisite yellow star signifying Jood, so the girls were compelled to become involved in The Resistance.
As Anne Frank and her family were just going into hiding only miles away in Amsterdam, the girls started with simple acts of covert illegality: lifting German ID cards to counterfeit them; distributing fliers announcing strikes, passing out anti-Nazi literature. With each initiative, the danger became more pronounced, the stakes higher.
Soon they were called on for bigger, deadlier jobs: Ferrying Jewish children to safeguard locations. Stockpiling weapons. Detonating bombs. Intelligence-gathering. Spying. Sabotage. Murder. With each assignment, they became an integral part of the Dutch resistance. But it was not without peril, heartache, suffering, or loss. Award-winning historian Tim Brady paints a vivid portrait of Tuus, Freddie, and Hannie, three ordinary Dutch girls whose selfless acts of courage as they sought to undermine the Nazis and their Dutch collaborators were nothing short of extraordinary.
