Truus Menger-Oversteegen


Truus Menger-Oversteegen was a Dutch sculptor and painter. During the Second World War she was a member of the anti-Nazi Dutch armed resistance and performed many resistance activities together with her sister Freddie Oversteegen and Hannie Schaft.
After the war, she married Piet Menger in November 1945 and had four children, the oldest of whom she named after Hannie Schaft. She was regularly a guest speaker at universities and secondary schools about wars, anti-Semitism, tolerance and indifference. Menger-Oversteegen's book about her experiences during the war, Not then, Not now, Not ever, was published in 1982.
On 10 May 1967, Yad Vashem recognized her as Righteous Among the Nations. At her 75th birthday in 1998, Menger was invested as an Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau for her services. On 15 April 2014, Truus Menger-Oversteegen received the Mobilization War Cross with her sister from Prime Minister Mark Rutte.