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Dutch resistance fighter Freddie Dekker-Oversteegen / Image by Wikipedia

In the ancient Greek comedy Lysistrata, women unite to put an end to the Peloponnesian War in a rather inventive way: by refusing to have sex with any of the men in the country. Now, the Holocaust and World War II were real and anything but humorous, in contrast to this fictional farce. However, it appears that males are the same in both fiction and reality—that is, they are driven mostly by sex or the absence of it. Two brave Dutch females performed their part for the Resistance by offering to hook up Nazi soldiers and instead enticing them to their deaths, rather than refusing sex like the women of Lysistrata.

Although the household had multiple mattresses, Freddie and Truus Oversteegen's communist mother forced them to share a bed when they were little. because, around 1940, while the Netherlands was under Nazi occupation, they shared their apartment with Jewish refugees. Their communist, working-class, single mother instilled in them the value of opposing injustice. and giving up something to help others. They were therefore unable to put up with the atrocities committed against Jews by Nazis. When noticing their extreme tendencies, the commander of a Dutch resistance group asked their mother, Trijntje, if she would be willing to allow her daughters to join. Freddie was fourteen. Truus was sixteen as well.

They said "yes." There were no questions.

The work was contentious and dangerous. Concerned that her family's known inclination towards communism would jeopardize their safety, Trijntje made sure that the refugees they were harboring were evacuated when the Nazis invaded. Many were later killed and sent off to be murdered. Freddie and Truus were furious about this. He did not inform us until much later that we would need to sabotage railroad tracks and bridges. They learned quickly how to shoot Nazis and each took individual assassination assignments. They then focused on Dutch collaborators who had detained and threatened resistance fighters and Jews. The woods began to lure Nazis away and quickly began to kill them.

They were childlike in their appearance. With braids, Freddie was allegedly as young as twelve. The two girls tried bicycles in a theme of occupied space, with guns and documents for the resistance, with hardly any troops taking notice. Unnoticed, the pair set fire to a Nazi warehouse. Even as Allied bombs detonated overhead, they escorted refugees and small children to hiding places and obtained phoney identities for them, which they regarded as crucial. Serving as bait was one of Freddie and Truus's tasks. On one occasion, Truus went into a restaurant and engaged a senior SS officer in conversation while Freddie acted as a lookout. She asked him to take a walk in the woods while flirting with him. Following their seclusion, Truus and her buddy ran into a man walking the same trail. The Nazi officer did not know the individual was a member of the resistance. He then put the officer to death and left him in a previously excavated grave.

They soon began practising a sort of resistance they dubbed "liquidations." On occasion, the females would ride bicycles, with Freddie shooting from the back and Truus pedalling. In order to ambush the officers while their guard was down, they also followed them home. The girls found it hard to accept the labour, even if they thought it was necessary. According to Freddie, she would occasionally shoot a man and then feel an odd need to try to pull him up. However, they turned down any assignments involving kids. They were once asked to abduct an officer's child. They said no because it could harm the children.In 1943, Jannetje Johanna "Hannie" Schaft, a 22-year-old former law student, joined the girls. The three girls developed a strong bond and performed sabotage missions with the efficiency of a team that had trained together. Over the next two years, regardless of Schaft's red hair, the Nazis targeted officer and did not get credit.

The trio's activities will come to a stop because of this vibrant feature. When Schaft did not return from an assignment in April 1945, weeks before the war ended, Freddie and Truus became concerned. When an officer recognised the red roots of their friend's hair—which she had dyed black to evade detection—they were appalled to learn that she had been seized at a checkpoint. According to legend, Schaft taunted her executioner when he failed to kill her on his first try, and she was put to death on April 17. According to reports, she stated, "I'm a better shot."

The sisters had to cope with the anguish of killing people and losing their dearest friend after the war. After sculpting, Truus wrote and talked about their experience in the resistance. After marrying, Freddie had children. But she was still haunted by her experience of fighting the war and never-ending insomnia. No one knows how many Nazis the girls may've killed, because neither of them ever wanted to discuss it later in life. Freddie's response to inquiries was, "One should not ask a soldier any of that." They were honoured nationally for their national service in 2014 with the Mobilisatie-Oorlogskruis, also known as the "War Mobilisation Cross."

Truus passed away in 2016 at the age of 92, and Freddie passed away on September 5, 2018, just one day shy of her 93rd birthday.

Truus and Freddie handled their loss in different ways. Her plan for the future, according to Freddie, was "getting married and having babies. Truus, meantime, pursued careers as a writer, artist, and public speaker. The book "Not Then, Not Now, Not Ever" describes her experiences fighting for resistance. At the age of ninety-two, both sisters passed away.

The Netherlands failed to recognize their extraordinary service until 2014, despite their massive contributions in the fight against the Nazis because the Oversteegen family had been members of the Communist party before the war, and the Dutch government was fervently anti-Soviet. It is frustrating because the government was more interested in a person's political party than their long history of brave acts. However, my adoration for Freddie and Truus greatly surpasses my irritation. These extraordinary sisters put everything on the line for what they felt was right. And they didn't do it for attention or fame.

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