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Dan Snow's History Hit

Nazi's Most Wanted: Assassin Hannie Schaft

Ep. 1245
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Known among the Nazis as "the girl with the red hair," Hannie Schaft was a resistance fighter so deadly that Adolf Hitler personally ordered her capture. She was a 24-year-old Dutch student when the Nazi forces occupied the Netherlands in 1940. Fuelled by a desire to protect her country, Hannie became an integral part of the Dutch Resistance, at a time when speaking out was dangerous and resistance could cost lives, Hannie displayed unyielding courage and determination. She and other women fighters were able to transport weapons in bicycle baskets, plant bombs and eventually lure Nazi officials and conspirators into honeytraps before assassinating them, as most didn't believe women were capable of committing such acts. She was eventually caught, tortured and executed.


Her life and bravery were extraordinary and historian and historical novelist Buzzy Jackson joins Dan to tell Hannie's incredible story. Her life is the subject of Buzzy's new novel 'The Girl with the Red Hair.'


Produced by Mariana Des Forges and edited by Dougal Patmore


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