#Hannie Schaft

[kropotkindersurprise]

May 5, 2024 - Socialist youth group ROOD Utrecht used the occassion of Bevrijdingsdag, the Dutch liberation day, to rename a street in the city of Utrecht that is named after a fascist mayor who was a founder of the nazi-collaborationist NSB fascist party.

They renamed the street in honor of Hannie Schaft, a Dutch communist resistance member who assassinated several Nazis and collaborators before being arrested and executed by the Nazis in 1945, three weeks before the end of the war. [video]

[mudwerks]

(via Overlooked No More: Hannie Schaft, Resistance Fighter During World War II - The New York Times)

She killed Nazis in the Netherlands and was known as “the girl with the red hair” on their most-wanted list. Then she was executed.

[girlactionfigure]

[dirjoh-blog]

Jan Bonekamp: A Portrait of Courage in the Dutch Resistance

The Second World War brought untold suffering to millions across Europe. In occupied territories, ordinary men and women found themselves faced with extraordinary choices: to collaborate, remain silent, or resist. Among the Dutch who chose resistance, Jan Bonekamp stands out as a courageous and determined figure whose actions epitomize the spirit of defiance against Nazi oppression. His life,…

[annafromuni]

My Favourite Book Characters Part Two - The Simpletons

These characters aren’t magically inclined. They don’t have some otherworldly element to their existence that makes them incredible. There isn’t anything powering them that is supernatural or paranormal or anything that isn’t human. They are simple human beings with average lives and they are amazing people. That’s what this category is about – simple people being genuinely good humans for the…

[vogelmeister]

Anyways I’m reading The Girl with the Red Hair and it’s very good but if Hannie Schaft wasn’t an actual historical figure I would have thought that having a character have bright orange hair during the German occupation of the Netherlands was a little too on the nose.

[historydailyfrancischappellblack]

On this day in history, Dutch resistance fighter Hannie Schaft is arrested by Nazi Police at a military checkpoint in Haarlem, Netherlands. March 21, 1945 Image: Hannie Schaft (Public Domain) On this day in history, March 21, 1945, Dutch resistance fighter Hannie Schaft is arrested by Nazi Police at a military checkpoint in Haarlem, Netherlands. Early in the war, Schaft became an active member…

[aiiaiiiyo]

[pho---to---graph]

Hannie Schaft at Amsterdam House of Detention at Amstelveenseweg, just before her execution, April 1945

[darkesttiimelines]

Throughout history, women have left an undeniable impact on society with their hard work, creativity, and dedication to progress. Unfortunately, their accomplishments have often gone unnoticed, been undervalued, or even stolen. Despite these challenges, brave women of today continue to push boundaries, break barriers, and pave the way for a more fair and equal world. It's our duty to keep going, so that future generations of women can inherit a kinder, more just, and supportive world. By following in the footsteps of the incredible women who came before us, we can create a world where every woman can flourish and succeed, and where their contributions are recognized and celebrated.

Joan of Arc is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the coronation of Charles VII of France during the Hundred Years' War. Claiming to be acting under divine guidance, she became a military leader who transcended gender roles and gained recognition as a savior of France. She was put on trial by Bishop Pierre Cauchon on accusations of heresy, which included blaspheming by wearing men's clothes, acting upon visions that were demonic, and refusing to submit her words and deeds to the judgment of the church. She was declared guilty and burned at the stake on 30 May 1431, aged about nineteen.

Rani Lakshmibai was the Maharani consort of the princely state of Jhansi from 1843 to 1853. She was one of the leading figures in the Indian Rebellion of 1857 became a symbol of resistance to the British rule in India for Indian nationalists. When the Maharaja died in 1853, the British East India Company under Governor-General Lord Dalhousie refused to recognize the claim of his adpoted heir and annexed Jhansi under the Doctrine of Lapse. She rode into battle with her infant son strapped to her back, and died in June 1858 after being mortally wounded during the British counterattack at Gwalior.

Rosalind Franklin was a British chemist and X-ray crystallographer whose work was instrumental in the discovery of the structure of DNA. Her contributions were largely overlooked by her male colleagues, James Watson and Francis Crick, who used her data without her permission or acknowledgement. This theft of her intellectual property and erasure of her contributions is a prime example of the systemic sexism that has historically plagued the scientific community.

Hedy Lamarr was an Austrian-American actress and inventor who co-invented a frequency-hopping spread spectrum technology during World War II that was used to guide torpedoes. However, her contributions were largely ignored and dismissed by male engineers and the military at the time. It was only later in life that she received recognition for her scientific achievements.

Emma Weyant is an American competitive swimmer. She was the US national champion at the individual medley. She qualified for the 2020 Olympic Games in the 400m individual medley and won the silver medal in this event. Weyant finished second in the 500-yard freestyle at the 2022 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming and Diving Championships. She was beaten by William (Lia) Thomas, a fetishist, who when competing as a member of the Penn men's team, which was 2018-19, ranked 554th in the 200 freestyle, 65th in the 500 freestyle and 32nd in the 1650 freestyle. Weyant is the fastest swimmer in the 500-yard freestyle and had her position stolen by a man.

Maryna Viazovska is a Ukrainian mathematician who made a breakthrough in sphere packing, solving the centuries-old mathematical problem known as the densest packing of spheres in dimensions 8 and 24. She was awarded the Fields Medal in July 2022, making her the second woman (after Maryam Mirzakhani), the second person born in the Ukrainian SSR and the first with a degree from a Ukrainian university to ever receive it.

Hannie Schaft was a Dutch resistance fighter during World War II who played a crucial role in the resistance movement against Nazi occupation. Schaft was a former university student who dropped out because she refused to sign a pledge of loyalty to Germany. Nazis arrested and killed her in 1945, just three weeks before the war ended in Europe. According to lore, Schaft’s last words were, “I’m a better shot,” after initially only being wounded by her executioner.

Shakuntala Devi was an Indian mathematician and mental calculator who was known as the "Human Computer" for her exceptional ability to perform complex mathematical calculations in her head. Her extraordinary abilities earned her a place in the 1982 Guinness Book of Records. Her lesser known achievement is that in 1977 she wrote what is considered to be the first book in India on homosexuality titled “The World of Homosexuals.”  

J. K. Rowling is a British author and philanthropist. She wrote Harry Potter, a seven-volume children's fantasy series published from 1997 to 2007. Known for her philanthropy, she was doxxed and harassed after coming out with support for women's and gay rights in 2020. Rowling secretly donated hundreds of thousands of pounds to save 100 female lawyers and their families facing murder in Afghanistan. In 2022, she funded a women's only rape shelter in Edinburgh.

[everythingismadeofchaos]

This is my list of (IMHO) genuinely heroic people. I keep this list so that when I'm feeling uninspired I can pick a name at random, look them up, and be inspired. My memory kinda sucks so I've usually forgotten about them in the interim so it's like hearing some inspiring story for the first time. Please feel free to use this list for that purpose or for whatever purpose helps you. This is a private thing I've been absent-mindedly curating for years, so it's a little discombobulated; maybe I should put it in alphabetical order, for example. Since it works for what I use it for, though, I've never had the need for that, although there may be some duplicates specifically because of that.

If you have any additions, I'd love to hear them.

If you know of a reason somebody should not be on here, I'd love to hear that too. There are some controversial choices here, some people I've hemmed and hawed about, but in the end they're still on the list.

In no particular order:

Rachel Corrie

Aaron Bushnell

Sophie Scholl

Irena Sendler

Eugeniusz Łazowski

Mary Schweitzer. I know who she is but I'm including her anyway. Takes guts to do what she did

Temar Boggs

Juan Pujol García

Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson

Robert Smalls

Temar Boggs

Henrietta Swan Leavitt

Aitzaz Hassan Bangash Shaheed. Might already be on here; I need to alphabetize this list

Sal Khan. Yeah, I'm including him

Irena Sendler

Neerja Bhanot

Iqbal Masih

Tank man

Stephen Ruth. The guy with the cameras. He's no tank man, but why not, he's on the list

Narendra Dabholkar

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Sophie Scholl

Charles Hazlitt Upham

Wang Weilin

John Rabe (? ... Kind of questionable for obvious reasons. He saved a couple hundred thousand Chinese people though. I don't know. He was what he was.)

Baron Jean Michel P.M.G. de Selys Longchamps, DFC

Aitzaz Hasan Bangash

Daniel Hale

Hannie Schaft

Reality Winner … I guess

Aki Ra

Norman Borlaug

Neil Armstrong

Stanislav Petrov

Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov

William Kamkwamba

Donald A Henderson

Freddie Oversteegen

Daryl Davis and his collection of robes

Jacinto Convit

Sir Nicholas Winton

August Landmesser

Jonas Salk

Carl Lutz

Giorgio Perlasca

Derrick Nelson, principal of Westfield High School in New Jersey

Giles Corey

Chiune Sugihara

Sophie Scholl

Ronald McNair? Why not

Khader Adnan

Mordechai Vanunu

Corollary:

I'm not sure how to phrase "the opposite of this list," so I'm just going to call it the opposite of this list. Genuinely villainous people? Too easy, and honestly not what I'm going for. Anyway, I'm going to leave out the obvious like Hitler, Trump and Gaddafi because they're, well, obvious. Actually I'm not really sure what the goal of this list is so I'm just kind of winging it. People not to emulate?

Marvin Heemeyer

[bookofezra]

Historic Quotes That Haunt Me

"What will Miss Harris think of my hanging onto you so?" "She won't think anything by it." (last conversation between President Abraham Lincoln and First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln)

We are told that the American soldier does not know what he is fighting for. Now, at least, he will know what he is fighting against. (American General Dick Eisenhower after touring the liberated Ohrdruf concentration camp)

We used to root for the Indians against the cavalry, because we didn't think it was fair in the history books that when the cavalry won it was a great victory, and when the Indians won it was a massacre. (Activist and actor Dick Gregory)

If there is a God, He will have to beg my forgiveness. (Carved into the wall of a cell in the Mauthausen Concentration Camp)

It is only those who have never heard a shot, never heard the shriek and groans of the wounded and lacerated … that cry aloud for more blood, more vengeance, more desolation. (American general William Tecumseh Sherman)

I shoot better! (Dutch resistance fighter Hannie Schaft during her execution)

Men, I am not ordering you to attack. I am ordering you to die. (Turkish general Mustafa Kemal Atatürk during the Battle of Gallipoli)

Well boys, you've done your duty and done it well. I ask no more of you. I release you. You know the rule of the sea. (Captain Edward Smith as the RMS Titanic sank)

If you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you. (Scholar and philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche)

History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake. (Poet and novelist James Joyce)

[neonkoii]

i do not play when it comes to hannie schaft and freddie oversteegen and truus menger oversteegen. btw.

[dirjoh-blog]

Maarten Kuiper: A Dutch Collaborator in the Shadow of the Third Reich

Maarten Kuiper stands as a stark reminder of the complexities and moral ambiguities faced by individuals during the tumultuous times of World War II. Born on January 30, 1907, in Amsterdam, Kuiper’s early life was unremarkable, characterized by a series of ordinary professions including that of a sailor and a police officer. However, his later life took a dark turn as he became deeply involved…

[pisupsala]

I love that we discovered so much about Anna in this new chapter. Finding out that Anna was a college student fascinated me. As I have read women in Europe began actively attending college even earlier than women in the United States. By World War II it was already very common for women throughout Europe (at least for the most part) to attend universities composed of both men and women. In the United States, on the other hand, although there were women-only universities, there were still very few women attending. I think it is right that Rooster is not surprised to discover that Anna was a university student and part of the resistance. Because for during WWII the U.S. Navy created the WAVES branch for college women to enter the Navy at officer rank and serve during the war. So I guess Bradley has already met several of those women. Even in England there were all-female aviation squadrons during WWII. I found it so sweet and yet so sad how Anna felt the need to explain to Rooster why she was so nervous at that moment during the night. It was quite melancholy how Anna wanted to let Bradley know that she used to be an ordinary girl before the war, which is true.

You are absolutely right, and just to add a little bit more context for Czechoslovakia specifically (im probably going to write too many words here so i'll put it under a keep reading)

The interwar years, or the First Republic, are broadly considered a time of progress: socially, economically and militarily. In particular, it saw almost all institutions open to women/become co-ed and which resulted in (a relative) surge of in women becoming practicing professionals as medical doctors and lawyers, professors, but also in a number of technical fields and entering the workforce in different vocations. This is in part through the influence of the first First Lady of Czechoslovakia, Charlotte Garrigue Masaryk, who herself was well-educated (and American-born) and was quite clearly a heavy influence on her husband when it came to matters of education equality (even before he became president in 1918). (not to leave out the efforts of other female Bohemian writers, thinkers and activists that were also active and successful during Austro-Hungarian times, but that's another topic)

That said, Anna would have still been part of a minority as a female student, even though a generation of graduates and professionals already preceded her and established a place in society. But the opportunities presented to her, academically and professionally, would be like night a day almost compared to pre-WWI—when girls for example could only take final exams at private schools, when boys could go to public school (and that after almost 200 years of compulsory 8 years of primary education for boys and girls >.> ). Austria-Hungary was actually relatively slow in establishing equal rights to education compared to many western countries, and real change only came about after the break-up of the empire. Anyway, I think that she is conscious of that, and that it's of definite influence on how she acts and perceives the world around her and her place in it.

And I agree on that Rooster would, again in the grand scheme of things, not be that surprised. Definitely through his experiences and what he must have seen in the U.S, and the U.K. of women not only entering the armed forces but also the workforce at large as you pointed out. But at that time at the eastern front, women saw active combat as snipers, in artillery and tank divisions (although, it should be noted that the majority of women in the armed forces there, too, usually served in medical units). And moreover, generally, all through Europe, women played pivotal roles in national resistance movements.

One particular example that always comes to mind is Hannie Schaft, of the best known resistance fighters in the Netherlands, who was executed by Dutch Nazis at only 24 in 1945. (and probably apocryphal, but after the first bullet only grazed her, she told her executioner "I shoot better!" — tbh i want that to be true so badly).

Okay, if you actually made it through that whole word vomit above haha, thanks 🧡 and thanks for reading the story, your comments make me super happy!

[bitch-road]

Hannie Schaft was a badass.