To Die Beautiful (US) / The Girl with the Red Hair (UK)
This poignant and powerful novel is based on the true story of Hannie (Jannetje) Schaft (1920-1945). A somewhat shy and reserved University of Amsterdam student, Hannie finds herself increasingly revolted by the conditions imposed on her country by the German invaders. Many of her contemporaries and student friends are Jewish, and she begins to view the occupation’s restrictions and atrocities firsthand.
Initially somewhat ambivalent, she finds herself drawn into that shadowy and dangerous world known as “the resistance.” Forced to abandon her university career because she will not sign a declaration of allegiance to the Germans, she embarks on a very dangerous path. The questions of who to trust and what can actually be physically accomplished, and at what personal cost, begin to consume her very being. How might a young single woman help defeat the powerful occupiers while, at the same time, spiriting away these marked for transportation to the overcrowded concentration camps?
Donning various disguises, she becomes a thorn in the side of the invaders by partaking in assassinations and other violent acts of defiance. Targeted by the Germans as a provocateur (and identified as the “Girl with Red Hair”) that had to be caught, her life descends into adventures that define her inner strength and foreshadow her country’s growing resistance.
At its heart, this is a novel of strength and loyalty that graphically demonstrates how committed single individuals can indeed impact much larger configurations.
