On this day, 16 September 1920, Dutch communist resistance fighter Hannie Schaft was born.
Under Nazi occupation, she began stealing ID cards for Jewish residents. Schaft then began armed actions: sabotaging and assassinating various targets including Germans and Dutch collaborators.
Known in the movement as “the girl with red hair”, the Nazis found out her identity, and sent her parents to a concentration camp. They were eventually released, and Schaft dyed her hair black and continued her activity. She was eventually arrested, identified by her red roots, tortured and murdered by Dutch fascists.
After Liberation Schaft was buried in a state funeral, however when communism fell out of favour in the Netherlands, commemorations of her were banned.
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