I love WWII books and really looked forward to this book about these amazing women: Hannie Schaft, and sisters Truus and Freddie Oversteegen.
The author's research for this book is impressive! I struggled with so many facts, but I think that's me as I wanted to get into the people behind the facts.
The book portrays the violent resistance against Germans and Dutch collaborators during WWII in the Netherlands, something I knew nothing about. Several branches of the resistance were Communist, promoting Communism while decrying Nazi Germany.
I'm in awe of these women, and their bravery and willingness to be a part of the resistance. They played important roles in sabotaging the Nazis and rescuing Jews from the Nazi's occupation.
This book helps the reader understand the roles of the resistance movement during the years of Dutch occupation, an important part of history.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me a copy of this book. ( )

Heroic story of three women who fought against the long Nazi occupation in Holland.

This was an interesting book about three teenage girls that joined the Dutch Resistance in the fight against the Nazis. This book was fact driven and at times I found myself getting lost in the details as I tend to prefer history books that tell more of a story. I thought that the inclusion of the Frank family was interesting, you sometimes forget that all of this was happening at the same time in the Nederlands. ( )

Tim Brady’s Three Ordinary Girls follows three teenagers - sisters Truus and Freddie Oversteegen, and Hannie Shaft - as they became part of the Resistance during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands in WWII. It’s a fascinating account.

The Oversteegen girls were raised by their mother (the father left when they were young). Their mother had strong left wing political views and was very active in socialist activities. Hannie Shaft’s father was a teacher who continued to work through the Great Depression, so, unlike the Oversteegens, he was able to keep his wife and daughter off the dole. Hannie also had strong leftist leanings, studying Marxism as part of her college coursework as the war came to the Netherlands.

At the start of the Nazi occupation the resistance was very loosely organized, and in each town people were figuring out ways to resist on their own. In Haarlem the girls fell in with Frans van der Wiel, who would lead the local resistance. They started with actions like disrupting the speech of the locally installed Nazi leader by getting others to ring their bicycle bells while a compatriot cut the power to the leader’s microphone.

But as the war progressed the actions became much more risky, including bombings and assassinations. The three women were active participants, and in fact were considered key players as they could move about more freely than their male counterparts - the Nazis were less suspicious of young Dutch women than the young men.

I think that’s what Brady means by calling these women “ordinary girls”. Ordinary is how the Nazis viewed them. But the actions they took and the courage they showed were anything but ordinary. They became an important part of their tight knit group of resistance fighters.

Later, as the war in Europe entered its final stages the resistance began to be more organized and the group under Frans began taking direction from a more formal structure organized by the government-in-exile. Tension with those in charge began to arise, partly because the leaders were from the upper class and viewed Frans’ group as filled with lower class people with communist leaning. Neither side trusted the other completely.

Brady’s book covers the war years and after, including the reluctance to credit the socialist leaning members of the Resistance as the Cold War began to set in. Thankfully that is now in the past, and the heroism of all three women is now recognized and acknowledged within the Netherlands. With Brady’s book their story is gaining recognition with a broader audience.

The book is fast paced and graphically detailed. But it moves so fast that, even though Brady lays out all the pieces, the emotional punch inherent in the story doesn’t quite come through the page. So, while I learned a lot and enjoyed the book, it comes in as a Four Star ⭐⭐⭐⭐ read for me. ( )

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Three Ordinary Girls: The Remarkable Story of Three Dutch Teenagers Who Became Spies, Saboteurs, Nazi Assassins–and WWII Heroes by Tim Brady tells the story of fierce women fighting in the Dutch Resistance during World War II. Mr. Brady is an award-winning writer of critically acclaimed books.

Every country has its heroes, stories of courage and fortitude. Unfortunately, many of these stories will never leave its shores. I was happy to read Three Ordinary Girls: The Remarkable Story of Three Dutch Teenagers Who Became Spies, Saboteurs, Nazi Assassins–and WWII Heroes by Tim Brady because otherwise I never would have been exposed to these Dutch heroes.

Sometimes, it’s even better reading about other countries’ heroes because the authors are less biased. They tend to lean towards historical accounts instead of propaganda or anecdotes. As James W. Loewen points out in his excellent book Lies My Teacher Told Me, these stories soon make their way to history books.

Hannie Schaft, Freddie Oversteegen and her sister Truus Oversteegen, the women which the book focuses on, have had strong convictions which led them on very dangerous paths. Hannie Schaft even came to represent Dutch Resistance fighters on a monument honoring them.

The young women hid and rescued Jews, took parts in sabotage, assassinations, as well as running guns and supplies. I’m actually amazed that they survived more than a few months of the Nazi occupation.

The book is very well researched, the author certainly goes to great lengths to get the history correct. Additionally, I’m sure I’m in the minority of readers that actually takes the time to look over the sources. I actually find some new reads quite often. I’m most likely in the majority of those who enjoy reading the footnotes, however. ( )