Hannie Schaft
| Hannie Schaft | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
Jannetje Johanna Schaft 16 September 1920 Haarlem, Netherlands |
| Died | 17 April 1945 (aged 24) Bloemendaal, Netherlands |
| Nationality | Dutch |
| Other names | The girl with the red hair |
| Known for | Resistance fighter during World War II |
Jannetje Johanna (Jo) Schaft (16 September 1920 – 17 April 1945) was a Dutch communist resistance fighter during World War II. She became known as the girl with the red hair (in Dutch Het meisje met het rode haar, also the title of a book and film about her). Her secret name in the resistance movement was Hannie.
Hannie Schaft was born in Haarlem. Her mother was a Mennonite and her father was attached to the Social Democratic Workers' Party. During her law studies at the Universiteit van Amsterdam she became friends with the Jewish students Philine Polak and Sonja Frenk. This made her feel strongly about actions against Jews. With the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II university students were required to sign a declaration of allegiance to the occupation authorities. When Hannie refused to sign the petition in support of the occupation forces, she could not continue her studies and moved in with her parents again. She became more and more active in the resistance movement and helped people who were hiding from the Germans with stolen identification cards and food-coupons.
She joined the Raad van Verzet or "Council of Resistance", a resistance movement that had close ties to the Communist Party of the Netherlands. Her motivation to join the communists was that they were at least resisting actively. She carried out various attacks on Germans, collaborators and traitors. She learned to speak German fluently and got involved with German soldiers. Some resistance members considered her a traitor for that.
After a sub-department of the Raad van Verzet in Velsen killed a farmer, without authorization from the groups' leaders, Hannie brought a list of names of the ones who did that to her leaders.
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