The Story of Freddie Oversteegen (Essay Example)

“I’ve shot a gun myself and I’ve seen them fall. And what is inside us at such a moment? You want to help them get up.” Freddie Oversteegen was a strong young woman. She was the younger sister of Truus Oversteegen and daughter to Trijin Oversteegen. Living during WW2 in the Netherlands was tough but her and her family went through it. During the war, she was practically a hero. Especially during the time of the Nazi’s rule. She was a female resistance fighter that was a part of an underground resistance group. Because of her job, she had to get rid of  Nazi soldiers or Dutch collaborators, through death. Freddie Oversteegen deserves a monument for the courage that she demonstrated, saving thousands of lives, and the fact that she was not recognized or honored as much as other war heroes.

Freddie Oversteegen was born on September 6, 1925 (The Independent). She was raised by a single mother and had an older sister. After her parents divorce they moved into an old looking apartment and they had a straw bed that their mother had made. Both her parents were a part of the International Red Aid and both girls joined the Dutch Youth Federation in the 30s (Roberts). Their mother had influenced them to make toys for the children that were suffering during the Spanish Civil War. Because of their willingness to do what's right, Trijin, Truus, and Freddie Oversteegen  started housing Jewish refugees or refugees that ran away from home because of who they were and what they are like. Unfortunately, those refugees were caught, shipped off, and murdered. Freddie Oversteegen never forgot them and she died on September 5, 2018 (The Independent). 

“We had to do it,” she told one interviewer. “It was a necessary evil, killing those who betrayed good people.” (Freddie Oversteegen, The Independent).  Freddie Oversteegen, Truus Oversteegen, and their best friend Hannie Scahaft were a part of an assasination cell of 7. So, they seduced nazis by puting on makeup, flirting, giggling and ending the night with a “romantic walk” into the woods. When they were assigned this, Truus acted quickly, she seduced an officer and led him into the woods allowing the resistance to shoot him. Freddie was the first to shoot an officer herself. (The Independent). Also, they did drive by on their bikes and shot their targets. Initially, before the resistance, they had passed out newspapers and pamphlets that can help people understand the propaganda of Nazi rule and gather people for a resistance. Nevertheless, they could have been caught at any moment for the actions that they took to fight for what’s right but they went through with it. As Freddie Oversteegen said, “It was a necessary evil, killing those who betrayed good people.”

“Resistance fighters don’t murder children,” Hannie Scaft stated (Roberts). The trio smuggled Jewish children out of concentration camps and sent them somewhere they would be welcome and housed. They also saved children from all over the country that were being prejudiced because they are Jewish and don’t me (The Independent). Before the trio got involved with the resistance, the sisters and their mothers had started to house refugees from all over and hid them. Therefore, they had once housed a Jewish couple and a mother and son. Consequently, like I stated before they were caught and murdered (The Independent). While the trio was in the resistance group they were assigned to “kidnap the children of the politician and senior Nazi officer Arthur Seyss-Inquart, reichkommissar of the occupied Netherlands.” (Roberts).  They were supposed to switch the children out with imprisoned members of the resistance, and they knew that if they were caught then the children could have been killed in the process. Because of this, they wouldn’t go that far and be responsible for a child's death. Moreover, Freddie must have saved countless lives, even the enemies' children which gives another reason as to why she deserves to be recognized.

"I have always been a little jealous of her because she got so much attention after the war," Oversteegen told Vice Netherlands in 2016, referring to her sister. "But then I'd just think, 'I was in the resistance as well.'" (The Independent). Freddie was never really acknowledged as much as Truus Oversteegen and Hannie Schaft were. Yes, she did get the Mobilization War Cross Award in 2014 (Roberts) along with her sister but she never really got much attention after the war. In addition, Hannie Schaft was made a foundation by Truus Oversteegen in 1996 (The Independent), Truus Oversteegen was a sculptor and author (Roberts), and Freddie “served as a board member” (The Independent). For example, in “The Independent”, it clearly states that, ‘“But she "decided to be a little bit out of the limelight," Pliester said, and was sometimes overshadowed by Schaft and Truus, the group's leader.”’ Freddie Oversteegen never really got the attention she deserved for her efforts during the war. She did no more and no less than what Hannie and Truus partook in, so she deserves the same amount of respect and recognition.

Freddie Oversteegen is a person that should be admired and remembered for her undying determination to fight for what’s right. She rescued thousands of children’s lives that had so much more peace and life ahead of them, she made sure that she was strong for herself and the people that were being hurt for their innocence, and she didn’t acquire the same recognition as other war heroes did. Freddie was no criminal at heart but a hero. In her eyes, she wanted to help her enemy stand right back up after shooting them because she is someone who saves but it was her job to eliminate those who were hurting good people. She accepted and accomplished that job resulting in many lives saved. May God bless her wherever she is because she is one hero.