It was May 1940 when Nazi troops took control of the Netherlands after the surrender of the local government. The atrocities of the German army were soon seen, with the persecution and murder of local Jews, but one, in particular, would be fundamental in history: a Nazi officer ended up beating with a baby before the eyes of his parents and his brothers: Truus Oversteegen, who saw the scene by chance, was going to kill him with a shot in the head.

The terror that the Nazi army caused in the Dutch population resulted in a large clash group soon formed, known as the resistance. Many young people did not hesitate to join her, although in many cases they only performed residual tasks such as mail or visual monitoring because the weapons were flour from another sack. But three women were going to go down in history because they were part of this group: the sisters Truus and Freddie Oversteegen and Hannie Schaft.

The three girls were friends since they were little and the atrocities of the Nazis soon convinced them to participate in the resistance. Very united since always, that scene that Truus Oversteegen witnessed changed them definitively, and they decided to become much more active in the fight against the Nazis. Their youth and innocent appearance soon offered them a shield before which the Nazis were unable to recognize an enemy in front of them.

That is the story that writer Sophie Podelmans tells in her latest book, ‘Seducing and killing Nazis’, in which she tells the story of the three heroines. After the death of that Nazi officer, the three friends decided to get involved in any plan that was intended to end the reign of German terror and soon began to be much more active: first, destroying the train tracks to avoid deportation of Jews; later, killing Nazis.

They soon discovered what they needed: meeting the Nazis alone. Truus had the fortune of that fortuitous encounter, in which no other Nazi accompanied the one who ended the baby’s life. But it was not the norm. How could they find that opportunity? Very simple: in the taverns where the Germans got drunk, it would be easy to address them. Makeup, tight dresses and promises of fun ensured this possibility.

This is how these three young women were dedicated to seducing the soldiers, who were taken to places away from the eyes of others to, as soon as they had the opportunity, kill them in cold blood with a shot in the head. The Nazis never came to think that their flirts were the ones that were leading them to meet an enemy they had never faced, until more than four years later, a German soldier recognized Hannie Schaft, the ‘red hair girl’.

Even twice, this Nazi watched as a young redhead approached a group of soldiers among whom she was. One of them left with the young woman and would never return: that third time, it was no different. Soon she gave the alarm and a description of the young woman, who in March 1945 was captured in a roadblock: when the firing squad fired her, her eyes shone. ” Idiots, I shoot better than you,” were her last words.

The Oversteegen sisters managed to survive World War II, but never made public the number of Nazis who took their lives. It is believed that between the two girls and Schaft ended the lives of about 200 soldiers, a story that is now told in ‘Seducing and killing Nazis’ to honour three heroines who fought against the Nazi regime from the Dutch resistance. Three young people who did everything in their power to make the world a better place.