A review by zinelib
Seducing and Killing Nazis: Hannie, Truus and Freddie: Dutch Resistance Heroines of WWII by Sophie Poldermans

dark fast-paced

4.0

This scholarly bio of three Dutch resistance fighters isn't particularly well written. It falls into the academic trap of including extraneous information just because the primary sources bore them out. Still, it's a fast read and provides a coda that I hadn't heard before--that the three women, one who gave her life to the struggle and two who had PTSD for the rest of their lives--were not properly honored for their work because they were (gasp!) communists. 

Some really good quotes that resonate especially hard as we naviaget the rise of fascism in America. 

The majority of the Dutch population, an estimated 90 percent, tried to continue to live their lives as normal as possible. Listening to the illegal radio station "Radio Oranje" and reading illegal newspapers were forms of passive resistance that most people related to.

...

The remaining 5 percent of the Dutch population were engaged in active resistance. This form of resistance consisted of printing and/or distributing illegal newspapers, helping people in hiding, collecting information for the government that fled to London or committing acts of sabotage.

...

After February 6, 1943, every student had to sign a "declaration of loyalty" declaring "to observe the laws and regulations in force to the best of their knowledge and belief and to refrain from any action directed against the German Empire.

...

Throughout the Netherlands, more than 85 percent of students refused to sign the declaration. As a result, university life was put almost entirely on hold. Lectures and exams were still given, although illegally, in special places.

...

The Germans have always denied that they had anything to do with [ordering the execution of Hannie Schaft], and, according to them, the Dutch were involved. It is suspected -- and [resistance fighter] Truus [Oversteegen] was reasonably convinced of this--that the communist hunt from London had something to do with it, not so much the specific order to execute Hannie, but to defuse the political left in general. 

DEPRESSING