Selma is one of the best-known living resistance fighters from the Second World War. She already told her story once in The world goes on and in Dragonflybut more than 75 years after the liberation, she still has a clear mission: to keep telling.
Selma was arrested under a false identity
Selma is one of the few resistance fighters who survived the war. She is arrested under a false identity in the summer of 1944 and eventually ends up in Ravensbrück concentration camp. Under her pseudonym Marga van der Kuit, it seems that Selma always made the right choices during the war. Her true identity is never discovered and so she survives the war.
The SS men beat with their belts
In Selma’s War together with Philip Freriks, she visits various places from this time, including Amsterdam, where she grew up, and Utrecht, from where she delivers parcels as a courier throughout the Netherlands and abroad. In the former Camp Vught she tells about her work in the gas mask factory and about the train journey in a cattle car to Ravensbrück concentration camp, where she managed to survive under harsh conditions. For example, she was once knocked unconscious because she had to go to the bathroom and was therefore late for roll call. “Those SS men’s belts had a lot of iron on them and that is very hard,” she recalls. “There was a lot of beating, everything was done to humiliate you as much as possible, you were just a number.”
Selma: “You try to survive as much as possible”
When Philip asks how she got through all this, she explains that she always had hopes that she would get out of it again. “You try to survive as much as possible. I thought: I don’t want that bitch, that German, to get me down and kill me. I will try to get out again.”
Comments from viewers
After the war, Selma vowed never to speak of the things she had experienced again. Not only did she lose her parents and her sister, but also countless other loved ones. These events hit her hard. However, she still thinks it is important to share her story, because she is very concerned, also in view of the things that are happening in the world right now. Her story made a big impression on viewers, as is apparent from the tweets below.
What an impressive story #Selmas War what a powerful, sweet lady Selma is! Be quiet still. And how well does Philp Freriks do this! Almost 100 years now and still tells her story in schools!!!!
— greet vanrijn (@greetvanrijn) May 3, 2022
You have to be an incredibly strong character to survive this. Very impressive story. #selmaswar
— Hans Poelman (@HPO83) May 3, 2022
So impressed with #Selmas War What an incredibly brave Resistance Woman she is. What an important story to tell. I wish everyone would look at this document to see what resistance heroes are.
— Gonny (@gon78ny) May 3, 2022
What an impressive story. What a respect for so much life force #selmaswar
— Robert Groenink (@ragroenink) May 3, 2022
Source: NPO