Life

Jannetje Johanna(Jo) Schaft, later known as Hannie(her secret name in the resistance), was born in Haarlem on 16 September 1920.

She studied Law at the Amsterdam University, where she befriended Jewish students.

When the Germans invaded, students were expected to sign a pledge of allegiance to the occupation government. Hannie refused to do this, so she had to quit her study.

She helped out Jews and resistance fighters in hiding by arranging fake IDs for them, and in 1943 she joined the "Raad van Verzet"("Resistance Council"), a resistance movement that was influenced by the Communist Party of the Netherlands(CPN), and was distrusted by the mainstream liberal resistance groups. The connection with the CPN was furthered because the CPN newspaper, De Waarheid(The Truth) openly backed the RVV.

Along with Jan Bonekamp, a resistance man whom she greatly admired, Hannie often assassinated collaborators. One target was the police officer W. Ragut, who, before dying, managed to shoot Jan, who ended up in the hands of the Germans. They extracted information on several resistance fighters from him, including on Hannie Schaft.

Hannie continued working for the resistance, helping out in operations like collecting German ammo, blowing up a German ammunition transport, etc. As the end of WWII was approaching, the Dutch prince Bernhard(the husband of the crown princess at the time) tried to unify the RVV with its rivaling resistance groups. This, along with communication difficulties, significantly reduced the RVV's efficiency, and eventually its leader Jan Thijssen was arrested by the Germans.

Hannie was eventually arrested on 21 March, 1945, when she was stopped by Germans while carrying a gun and copies of illegal papers like De Waarheid. The Germans identified her as the "girl with the red hair" whom they had been looking for for a long time.

On the 17th of April, now sixty-one years ago, she was taken into the dunes of Overveen, where a German soldier emptied his SMG on her. She supposedly told him: "I shoot better than you." She was buried there, but later her body was collected and buried in an honorary cemetery along with about 400 other bodies of resistance fighters shot in the dunes. Of all those people, Hannie Schaft was the only woman.

Commemorations

At first, the Dutch bourgeoisie cared little for commemorating a communist resistance heroine. In 1951, the Hannie Schaft Commemoration Committee, with ties to the CPN, tried to march to the honorary cemetery, which the government tried to prevent. Cops, the Royal Constabulary, soldiers and four armored cars were mobilised to block the marching communists. A few of them snuck into the cemetery to lay down a wreath and sound the bell, for which they were arrested.

These events were broadcast on TV yesterday in the program "Andere Tijden"("Other Times"), which deals with events from Dutch history. While I applaud the fact that they openly admitted that Hannie Schaft was a communist, they apparently still felt the need to make Cold War propaganda, so many years after the fall of the Wall: "Communism now belongs in an open air museum!", said the presentator. A statement on this ridiculous claim has been sent to the program by the Communist Youth Movement(CJB).

After the many problems with something as simple as commemorating a communist resistance heroine, the CPN eventually decided to organise these things on its own. When the CPN ceased to exist, the commemoration was taken over by liberal elements, which still control it today.

On the 27th of November of 2005, when the re-burial of Hannie Schaft was commemorated in Haarlem, CJB members attended. The commemoration was indeed a sham. One speaker accidentally referred to the League of Anti-Fascists as "League of Fascists" in front of its chairwoman, an Auschwitz survivor. Communism was never mentioned. When the organisations were summoned to lay wreaths, all of them were called by their full names, except for the NCPN(New Communist Party of the Netherlands) and the CJB!

Also, some insane things were said. The mayor of Haarlem claimed that, had Hannie Schaft survived, she would probably be working for the I.M.F. Another organiser, when confronted by a CJB comrade about the fact this this commemoration is a sham, simply said: "I'm not interested. I really don't care."

The CJB issued a short, but powerful statement on its website:

Haarlem, 27 November, for Hannie Schaft

On 27 November, wreaths were placed while the government continued attacking social security.

On 27 November, wreaths were placed while in Iraq people were dying in a war that nobody there wants.

On 27 November, wreaths were placed, and the organisation said nothing about what the struggle of Hannie Schaft back then, and today, was actually about.

On 27 November, the CJB commemorated the struggle of that time, and today's struggle!
Works about Hannie Schaft

The communist writer Theun de Vries wrote a book detailing Hannie Schaft's life: "Het Meisje met het Rode Haar"("The Girl with the Red Hair"). This was later turned into a movie directed by Ben Verbong, starring Renee Soutendijk. The quality of the movie was average, but it once again almost completely fails to mention communism. It is only mentioned when the Germans urge Hannie to betray her "communist comrades", and it is never made clear whether she was actually communist, or if it was simply used by the Germans to charge her with yet another crime.

Picture gallery


Hannie Schaft.


Another picture.


Book cover.


Movie poster.


Movie scene.


Movie scene of Hannie disguised with black hair and glasses.


CJB wreath: "Never Again Fascism!


CJB member with wreath.


Statue in Kenaupark in Haarlem.