Audrey Hepburn: a Dutch Resistance Member
- Jan 7, 2023
- 4 min read
Happy New Year and welcome to the first blog post of 2023! As I get closer to my book deadline, I will probably be posting less over the next few months. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this post.
Recently I was having a conversation with a ninety-year-old family friend about her experiences of World War Two. She started off with explaining about Dunkirk and D-Day, including her late husband’s role in D-Day and why he would never go on a ship ever again after that. One thing came up that I had never heard of before and that was the famous actress, Audrey Hepburn, had been involved in the Dutch Resistance during the war. After doing a bit of initial digging online, I found that she was right. The whole story had been unknown until 2019, when Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II written by Robert Matzen, following extensive research and interviews with those who had known Audrey during her time in Holland.
Audrey Hepburn was born in Brussels in 1929 to Joseph Rushton, a British banker and Ella van Heemstra, a Dutch baroness. During the 1930s, the family spent a lot of time in London and became supporters of the Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Fascists. In 1935, they were invited to Munich to meet members of the Fuhrer. In that same year, Joseph left the family when Audrey was six-years-old. Following the split, Audrey was initially sent to be schooled in London, but was later sent to Arnhem once her mother had settled back in Holland. Whilst there, she trained to be a ballerina at the Arnhem City theatre.
Following the move back to Holland, Ella continued her support for the Nazis. In Matzen’s book, he admits that he believed this support was to help them to survive, particularly after the German’s invaded Holland in 1940. However, Ella’s opinion changed after her brother-in-law, Otto, was executed for not cooperating with the Germans. Perhaps that means that Matzen’s view was right but it is clear that it is neither black nor white.
The now teenage Audrey did not agree with her mother’s views and sympathised with the occupied people who had known immense hardship, violence and abject poverty they were subjected to. Instead she decided to become involved in the Resistance by becoming acquainted with the local doctor Hendrik Visser’t Hooft, who was a leader in the underground movement. Her main role was to carry messages to downed allied airmen and bring them food. It was thought that her young age would mean she could be undetected and her fluent English was also a bonus. Dr Hooft was a good choice for a Resistance leader as doctors had some immunity from suspicion from the Nazis due to their much needed skills.
One instance she was sent to give a message to an airman who was hiding in woods near her village of Velp, where they had moved to following the execution of her uncle. After having delivered the message, she noticed Nazi guards who asked her what she was doing and to show her papers. She managed to cover up the truth by pretending to pick wildflowers and offer them to the men. Audrey also danced in performances held to raise money for the resistance, despite the fact that she was suffering from symptoms of malnutrition. This malnutrition affected her for the rest of her life as she always remained slender and had a strange relationship with food thereafter.
The Battle for Arnhem in 1944 helped to liberate the part of Holland that Audrey Hepburn lived in, but she would never forget the things that she saw during the four years of occupation. This was something she admitted on numerous occasions.
Whilst this post has not used all the ins and outs of Audrey Hepburn’s involvement with the Resistance, I hope it has shown the immense bravery that a young teenager had in very dangerous and life threatening circumstances. It was for this reason that she spoke very little of her involvement. She also never revealed her mother’s Nazi sympathies because of the anger she felt for them, but also she wanted to distance herself from for the sake of her career.
Daniel Bates, ‘How Audrey Hepburn’s mother was a ‘lipstick Nazi’, dating a German officer and adored Adolf Hitler after he kissed her hand during a private meeting – leaving the actress fearful it would derail her Hollywood career’, The Daily Mail, 4 April 2019, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6887727/How-Audrey-Hepburn-feared-mothers-admiration-Adolf-Hitler-ruin-career.html
Robert Matzen, ‘Those Are Things You Don’t Forget.’ How a Young Audrey Hepburn Helped the Dutch Resistance During World War II’, Time Magazine, 3 May 2019, https://time.com/5582729/audrey-hepburn-world-war-ii/
Daniel Bates, ‘How Audrey Hepburn’s mother was a ‘lipstick Nazi’
Ibid; Katie Rook, ‘How Young Audrey Hepburn Supported the Dutch Resistance in World War II’, Showbix Cheat Sheet, 2 January 2022, https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/how-young-audrey-hepburn-supported-the-dutch-resistance-in-world-war-ii.html/
Robert Matzen, ‘Those Are Things You Don’t Forget’
Daniel Bates, ‘How Audrey Hepburn’s mother was a ‘lipstick Nazi’
Robert Matzen, ‘Those Are Things You Don’t Forget’
Katie Rook, ‘How Young Audrey Hepburn Supported the Dutch Resistance in World War II’
Comments