Three Ordinary Girls: The Remarkable Story of Three Dutch Teenagers Who Became Spies, Saboteurs, Nazi Assassins–and WWII Heroes
Tim Brady
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Three Ordinary Girls: The Remarkable Story of Three Dutch Teenagers Who Became Spies, Saboteurs, Nazi Assassins–and WWII Heroes
Tim Brady
The astonishing WWII true story of a trio of fearless female resisters whose youth and innocence belied their extraordinary daring in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands. It also made them the underground's most invaluable commodity. Now for the first time, the complete account of these inspiring teenagers, recruited during WWII as spies, saboteurs and Nazi assassins, who fulfilled their harrowing missions with remarkable courage. May 10, 1940. The Netherlands was swarming with Third Reich troops. In seven days it's entirely occupied by Nazi Germany. Joining a small resistance cell in the Dutch city of Haarlem were three teenage girls: Hannie Schaft, and sisters Truus and Freddie Oversteegen who would soon band together to form a singular female underground squad. Smart, fiercely political, devoted solely to the cause, and "with nothing to lose but their own lives", Hannie, Truus, and Freddie took terrifying direct action against Nazi targets. That included sheltering fleeing Jews, political dissidents, and Dutch resisters. They sabotaged bridges and railways and donned disguises to lead children from probable internment in concentration camps to safehouses. 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 of veteran guerilla fighters and the cunning of seasoned spies. In telling this true story through the lens of a fearlessly unique trio of freedom fighters, Tim Brady offers a never-before-seen perspective of the Dutch resistance during the war. Of lives under threat; of how these courageous young women became involved in the underground; and how their dedication evolved into dangerous, life-threatening missions on behalf of Dutch patriots-regardless of the consequences. Harrowing, emotional, and unforgettable, Three Ordinary Girls finally moves these three icons of resistance into the deserved forefront of world history.
Publication Year: 2021
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0The third of the not-so-ordinary girls referenced in the title is Joanna (Hannie) Schaft, who was raised in the Dutch countryside, encountering and falling in love with political activity at university, where she also developed close relationships with several of her Jewish classmates. When the Germans invaded, Jo was insistent upon protecting her friends, hiding them in her own home, procuring false identification cards for them, and bringing them to various safehouses when necessary.
These three young women came into contact with each other only about halfway through the book, when Truus and Freddie were met at work by a woman with a message for them. Nervous and confused, Truus kept her hand on her pistol until the woman was revealed to be Hannie Schaft, a comrade in arms working for the same resistance and who eventually became known beyond the underground as a notorious, red-headed, female assassin. Indeed, Hannie's bravery and determination to complete her missions was palpable throughout this book, and I was intrigued by many of Brady's references. Completely unfamiliar with Hannie Schaft's story as I was, I was surprised to discover that she is one of the more heavily researched personnages of this era.
On that note, I've come to my primary criticism of the book: this very much read like a high school paper on three fascinating female characters in the Second World War. Brady referenced the same three or four papers and books over and over again, rarely introducing alternative sources and even, at a few points, citing Wikipedia in his bibliography. Furthermore, there were multiple footnotes in nearly every paragraph without much deeper insight or analysis, such that my interest was piqued but unsatisfied.
Similarly, I wanted to know more about each of the young women in this book. I was curious about the details of their work in the resistance and their efforts to discover information that would undermine the Nazi project. Brady seemed to be mostly interested in the assassination plots that they took part in--which were certainly fascinating and unexpected, especially by such young women--but I would have liked to see more about Truus and Freddie's work at the hospital, Hannie's attempts to discover her parents' fates, etc. rather than the intense focus on bicycle assassination after bicycle assassination. It seemed like a massive jump from introducing these young women as "ordinary girls" to confident assassins within only a few dozen pages and without, in my opinion, sufficient character development and experience to rationalize it. (Of course, I know this is nonfiction, but I think the same sort of characterization process applies!)
Ultimately, I learned something new from this book and would certainly consider excerpting it for a classroom discussion, but I think it offers an incomplete assessment of these three extraordinary young women, and I was hoping for a bit more.
I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley through Kensington Books: Citadel and author Tim Brady. Opinions stated in this review are honest and my own.
Release Date: 23 February 2021
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