The identification of Jannetje Johanna Schaft as a major threat to the Nazi occupation in the Netherlands emerged from her distinct appearance, earning her the moniker "the girl with the red hair." Operating within the Council of Resistance, she transitioned from securing false identity papers to direct participation in high-stakes sabotage and the liquidation of high-level collaborators.
Academic Beginnings and Radicalization
Born in Haarlem in 1920, Schaft enrolled at the University of Amsterdam in 1938 to study law. Her proximity to Jewish students, including Sonja Frenk and Philine Polak, informed her early rejection of German occupation policies. When forced to sign a declaration of allegiance to the Nazi authorities in 1943, she refused alongside the majority of her peers, effectively ending her academic trajectory. She subsequently utilized her civilian background to procure fraudulent identity documents for friends in hiding.
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Upon joining the Raad van Verzet, Schaft eschewed standard courier roles for armed engagement. She executed attacks on Dutch Nazis and German officers, often utilizing her fluent command of German to facilitate intelligence gathering. Her most notable operation occurred on 21 June 1944, when she and Jan Bonekamp assassinated the collaborator Willem Ragut in Zaandam. Following the arrest and subsequent death of Bonekamp, German authorities detained her parents, forcing a temporary cessation of her militant activities.
Capture and Execution
Schaft resumed her work under a changed appearance, dyeing her red hair black and wearing glasses. Her active service concluded on 21 March 1945, when guards stopped her at a checkpoint while she was distributing the underground newspaper de Waarheid. Confined in an Amsterdam prison, she endured extensive interrogation. On 17 April 1945, Dutch Nazi officials transported her to the dunes of vogelzang. Despite an existing agreement to halt executions during the war's final weeks, she was shot to death on the orders of Willy Lages.
Fast facts
- Born: 16 September 1920, Haarlem
- Died: 17 April 1945, vogelzang
- Education: University of Amsterdam
- Awards: Dutch Cross of Resistance (1946)
- Awards: Righteous Among the Nations (1967)
- Resistance Organization: Raad van Verzet
- Burial: Dutch Honorary Cemetery Bloemendaal
Questions readers ask
Why was she targeted by the Nazis?
She was a high-profile operative responsible for the assassination of multiple Nazi collaborators and Dutch police officers working for the occupation.
Was she actually executed for distributing newspapers?
The discovery of the newspaper was the immediate cause of her arrest, but her status as a known resistance operative and her identification by a former colleague led to her ultimate execution.
Achievements
- Righteous Among the Nations — 1967
- Worked as partisan, resistance fighter and law student
- Educated at University of Amsterdam
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