Inflated Timelines of JDJ Jujutsu Rank/Certificate Promotion & JDJ Endangered Species

This post will interrupt the current series of posts about the development of the Jan de Jong (JDJ) jujutsu grading system as it is very pertinent to the discussion.

The following was recently posted on Facebook by Aikido Sangenkai (The Aikido Sangenkai is a non-profit martial arts dojo (school) affiliated with the Aikikai Foundation in Tokyo Japan. We are located in Honolulu, Hawaii on the island of Oahu (https://www.aikidosangenkai.org/about.html).)

The abovementioned Facebook post has attracted a great deal of attention with most of it being supportive based on personal experience. 

Note: I have not confirmed the information detail.

Minoru Mochizuki's sho-dan certificate in Judo from Jigoro Kano, 1927.

He would begin training with Morihei Ueshiba three years later, in 1930, still a relatively junior student in Judo. One year after that, in 1931, he would open his own Yoseikan Dojo in Shizuoka. One year after that, in 1932, he would be awarded the two highest level Daito-ryu scrolls being given at the time, "Goshinyo no te" and "Hiden ogi no koto", after 2 years of training in Daito-ryu under Morihei Ueshiba and 7 years total of training in grappling arts. His fellow Daito-ryu student, Takuma Hisa, would be awarded the highest certification in Daito-ryu, the Menkyo Kaiden after around 6 years of training (3 with Morihei Ueshiba and 3 with Sokaku Takeda).

This is in line with a comment by Ellis Amdur on e-Budo:

"Records indicate menkyo kaiden in 5-7 years in the Meiji period. It is my belief and experience that koryu training takes far too long, because many teachers, greedy for power and status, withhold information or drag out the teaching."

This underlines the inflated timelines of modern day rank/certificate promotion, where such advancements normally take 30 or 40 years, or more.

Many, including myself, would suggest that the Jan de Jong (JDJ) jujutsu experience would bear out Amdur’s belief and experience in terms of koryu training taking far too long and the inflated timelines of modern-day rank/certificate promotion, however, the reason for doing so in the JDJ jujutsu case is not as Amdur suggests (see below).

How long does it take to get a black belt in jujutsu at the Jan de Jong Self Defence School (JDJSDS)? It was said that it takes at least 10 years. How did that number come about?

Peter Clarke and Robert Hymas are two of the only three that JDJ awarded rokudan. He did so shortly before he passed away in April 2003.

Clarke commenced training in 1971 (source: Jan de Jong Self Defence School, Jan de Jong: the man, his school, and his ju jutsu system, 1997) and was one of the first three to be awarded shodan (the 'first wave') in 1981 (source: Greg Palmer). That is 11 years, however, you will remember from a previous post that there were only gradings up to ikkyu until the late 70s when JDJ developed the shodan gradings so that he could have black belt instructors accompany him teaching in Europe. If there were shodan grading attached to the kyu system, would Clarke have graded shodan in less than 10 years?

Hymas commenced training in 1975 (source: see above) and was one of the first three to be awarded shodan in 1981 (source: see above). That is seven years. That is the fastest ever to be awarded shodan in the JDJ system, and it was also under the abovementioned limitation, however, Hymas also worked as a full-time instructor from 1978 to 1988 (source: abovementioned book) and he did not go through the mon system which was introduced in 1978 (source: abovementioned book).

That is something that has only come to light when researching these posts; my instructors (which included all instructors teaching at the JDJSDS in 1983) never went through the mon system. They teach it but they never went through it as it was introduced after they were already higher graded. This will become relevant when the introduction and interpretation of the mon system is explored in a future post.

I am the first shodan to have gone through the mon system. I was on track to at least match Hymas’ feat in terms of shortest time to be awarded shodan, and that was with going through the mon system and not being a full-time instructor as Hymas was, but I did have an insane training regime as I explained in a previous post. I was awarded shodan after nine years and that was with going through the mon system, spending a year backpacking through Western Europe, then a rite of passage for Australians, and engaging in the intense ‘professional year’ of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. During that time, I also obtained a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment in which I was awarded state dux and second in Australia. I don’t say those things to aggrandise myself but to show there were other demands on my time, including working full-time, that impacted on my training and progression.

Do I or Clarke or Hymas serve as a measure of how long it takes to be awarded shodan in the JDJ jujutsu grading system? How long does it take the average person to be awarded shodan in the JDJSDS under the regime that includes mon and shodan gradings?

There are a number of JDJ jujutsuka who commenced training around the same time that I did but were awarded shodan by the principal of one of JDJ’s ryuha after JDJ passed away in 2003. That is 20 years to be awarded shodan.

There are many factors that contribute to the length of time to be awarded shodan in the JDJ tradition, however, it is safe to say, as Amdur argues above, that it takes far too long in the JDJ jujutsu grading system.

I have come to refer to JDJ's teachings and therefore his ryuha that have been established after his passing as 'endangered.' If JDJ's teachings are to survive, the issue of the grading system and its dysfunction needs to be addressed. Part of that dysfunction is the training taking far too long and the inflated timelines of modern-day rank/certificate promotion. That dysfunction is the product of the development of the JDJ jujutsu grading system. Problem solving 101: identify the problem and its root causes. That is the purpose of this series of posts.

A final word: there are many ikkyu within the late JDJ tradition that are deserving of a black belt - shodan, nidan, even sandan - because they had the expertise and knowledge the equivalent or better of most within the jujutsu world, but they are denied a black belt because of the grading system that they were engaged in.

This is often credited to intensity of training, or to intensity of contact, but when we actually examine the records of how much many people trained, and how much contact they had with their instructors, that's really not the case. In many cases the practitioners were working, and training no more than many people do in modern times, or actually had limited contact with their instructors - as little or less than modern practitioners.

Note here that Jigoro Kano himself founded the Kodokan in 1882, at the age of 22, in the same year that he graduated from university - after only 5 years of training in jujutsu.

This detailed information is verified. Kano developed his own system which went on to become known as Kodokan Judo. But here’s the thing, Kano was an ‘educator,’ aka a trained teacher.

In his professional life, Kanō was an educator. Important postings included serving as director of primary education for the Ministry of Education (文部省, Monbushō) from 1898 to 1901, and as president of Tokyo Higher Normal School from 1900 until 1920.[4] He played a key role in making judo and kendo part of the Japanese public school programs of the 1910s.

Kano developed a martial arts tradition that became a global phenomenon. Nobody ever accused Kano of being a highly proficient exponent, however, he was able to develop a true martial arts ‘system’ because he was a qualified teacher. He had insights into the techniques that nobody else possessed because he was a qualified teacher. Yoseikan budo is the product of Kano’s approach to teaching because Mochizuki was an acolyte of Kano’s. This issue will be further explored in the post regarding the introduction of the mon system.

There are many reasons behind the timelines or the awarding of certifications in modern times, but the primary reasons that come to mind are:

- Power and control within an organization.

- Student retention (which is related to the above, power and control).

- Financial reasons - the constant income stream generated by stretching promotions over a period of years with greatly inflated pricing (which is also related to student retention).

- Poor instructional ability, often associated with poor or incomplete transmission of information (this is particularly a problem in modern Aikido).

- Deliberate withholding of information, or delays in delivery of information, which is also related to the above, power and control.

Those reasons have been attributed to JDJ in relation to his not providing the possibility of a shodan grading until the late 70s when he needed black belt instructors to accompany him when teaching in Europe (see above). Those reasons were speculated upon by high ranked students and instructors within the JDJSDS and are still proposed now.

Again, NO! JDJ did develop the kyu grading system to support a business, his sole source of income that went on to provide a very comfortable lifestyle, however, he did not withhold a shodan grading for any of the abovementioned reasons. As proposed in a previous post (see previous link) in this series, JDJ did not have a shodan grading because he did not have a shodan grading and did not need a shodan grading at that stage. There were no ulterior motives.

Rationalising the Jujutsu Grading System

Why didn't JDJ rationalise his jujutsu grading system? He kept on tacking on 'bits' based on his personal needs at the time, but why didn't he then step back and rationalise his jujutsu grading system?

JDJ was not big on reflection. That was possibly/probably due of his WWII experience where it was all here-and-now and based on personal survival. Don't look forward, don't look back. Another way of saying this is 'set and forget.' One example of this was the introduction of the kata in the kyu grading system.    

JDJ was involved with the Australian Ju Jitsu Association (AJJA). They wanted a 'competition' format because competition was considered to be important, or at least something that was in demand. JDJ was not a fan of competition as a form of training, which will become the subject of a future post on his introduction of 'free fighting' gradings in his jujutsu grading system. JDJ develop a series of kata that were to be basis for a competition format. In order to support the AJJA, JDJ introduced those kata in the kyu grades of his grading system.

Even when JDJ left the AJJA, he continued with the kata being part of the kyu grades. I argued long and hard for their removal. My argument was based on multiple points, one of which was that the grading system was already overly cumbersome and overly burdensome. Why add more to it just to support the AJJA competition format even when none of JDJ's students competed and JDJ had left the AJJA - set and forget.

I did include in my argument that if JDJ wanted to introduce a kata element into the kyu grades, then all he needed to do was pick five or six of the attack-defence combinations in the shinken shobu no kata grading to be performed in a kata format. The only extra training involved would then be the kata format.  

I was a relatively junior instructor at the time, but I was arguing on behalf of the students. Why waste time training additional things that have no benefit for the students. Eventually, JDJ succumbed to my advocacy and the kata gradings were removed from the JDJ jujutsu grading system. If it were not for me, those kata would probably still be included in the JDJ jujutsu grading system that is used by the majority of the JDJ ryuha that were established after JDJ passed away. Why? Could it be that the common ethos of the JDJ instructors, with the exception of myself, was teaching what was taught without question?

JDJ Jujutsu Grading System Analysis Series #2: Shodan Shinken Shobu no Kata #1

This post is the second in a series dedicated to an analysis (or limited exploration) of the Jan de Jong jujutsu grading system.

The core of the JDJ jujutsu grading system is the shinken shobu no kata (SSnK) gradings.

The phrase shinken shobu no kata was probably appropriated from Kodokan judo which has an actual kata that goes by that name*.

Shinken shobu is translated as 'real fighting' and so SSnK is a kata of real fighting, which is the intended purpose of JDJ's SSnK gradings. 

The Kodokan SSnK is a traditional kata where a series of specified attacks and defences are demonstrated. 

JDJ's SSnK in his gradings is a kata in the sense that there are a series of prescribed attacks and defences, however, they are 'demonstrated' in a random order as directed by the examiner without tori's (executor of defence) knowledge (not in a Cato Pink Panther fashion 😀). Tori stands with their back to the examiner who signals a specified attack to uke ('receiver' of defence) at random which tori is expected to respond with the required defence.

This type of grading, and indeed training, is designed to simulate a 'real' attack-defence situation. On a continuum from solo kata to 'free fighting,' this type of training is designed to rest more towards the 'free fighting' end of the spectrum.

Where JDJ got his SSnK format from is a mystery. The closest that I have seen to it is Mas Oyama's Kyokushin karate's one-step sparring. 

The following is an analysis of the JDJ jujutsu grading SSnK attack-defence combinations:

There is a 146% increase in the number of attack-defence combinations from ikkyu to shodan before reverting back to the norm in nidan and sandan. 'What's going on here?'

One possible/probable answer to that question may lay in an understanding of the development of the JDJ jujutsu grading system. 

The JDJ jujutsu grading system was developed piece-meal based on JDJ's needs at the time.

JDJ commenced teaching jujutsu in Perth in the 1950s and needed a grading system, so he developed one from rokkyu to ikkyu. He had no need for a shodan grading because he was the only instructor and his students were a long way off completing the kyu system that he had developed.

As students were graded ikkyu and were instructing in his expanding school ... here we can put to bed an 'urban myth' propagated by some of JDJ's senior students and instructors over the years (I'm still being asked the same question from students and instructors of JDJ's ryuha (branch of the stream) these days). It was/is suggested that JDJ did not grade anyone shodan at that time out of fear that they would go off and teach in competition to his own school. That is ascribing a devious nature to JDJ, which may or may not be true, however, it would also suggest some forethought on JDJ's part which was definitely not part of his psychological makeup. 

JDJ was a product of his experiences during WWII  and his focus was on the here-and-now. The motto he lived by could be expressed in: 'Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift. That's why they call it the present.' JDJ lived in the present.

JDJ visited Europe in the late 1970s to explore the jujutsu scene there. He found a vibrant scene and that many were extremely interested in his teachings, however, he also found that all of the instructors in Europe were black belts and he had none; so he developed a shodan grading to produce black belt instructors that could accompany him to Europe. 

The first black belts (3) were graded in 1981 and the second wave (4) in 1982. JDJ's first teaching tour of Europe was conducted in the European summer of 1982, accompanied by most of his newly minted black belts.

JDJ's shodan grading was developed as a one-off grading with no thought as to a dan grading system. It was also designed to produce instructors. 

The traditional approach of the Japanese martial arts is that shodan means that the student has mastered the 'basics' and now the 'real' learning begins. That is why in most Japanese martial arts there is relatively few gradings before shodan and then they are relatively basic. This is in complete contrast to JDJ's pre-shodan gradings.

An 'instructor' in the aforementioned martial arts is at least sandan if not godan. JDJ needed black belt instructors so he developed a shodan qualification that might be equated to those martial arts sandan-godan levels, at the very least. A unique feature of the JDJ dan grading system is that it is designed to produce instructors; most if not all other martial arts grading systems are not so designed, in which case, where do their instructors come from?

JDJ's senior instructors were graded shodan whereas mid- to senior level instructors in Europe were more highly graded. JDJ considered his senior instructors to be at least the equivalent of the more highly graded instructors in Europe and so wanted to 'upgrade' his senior instructors. He was, however, hampered by the idea that in the style of jujutsu that he learned from his original instructors, shodan to sandan were technical grades and that all higher grades were awarded on an honorary basis. So JDJ had to develop nidan and sandan grades before he could promote his senior instructors to higher grades. This he did.

The first nidan was awarded in 1991 (10 years after the first shodan) followed by the first sandan in 1999 (nearly 10 years after the first nidan) when JDJ's health was in decline and he needed a sandan grading so that he could award his senior instructors higher honorary grades before he passed away. JDJ awarded his three senior instructors rokudan (sixth dan) in March 2003 and he passed away in April 2003.

Aside from the number of attack-defence combinations in the shodan SSnK grading anomaly which is illustrated in the graph above, there is another anomaly in that grading.

The structure of all of the SSnK gradings, with the sole exception of the shodan grading, is based on attack-type categories, e.g., kubitsukame shime, kubi shime, atemi waza, etc. 

The shodan grading, and only the shodan grading, was structured in the form of a matrix. Attack-type categories were juxtaposed against defence-type categories, e.g., kubitsukame shime attack-type divided into atemi waza, kansetsu waza, nage waza defence-type categories. This matrix needed to be populated with attack-defence combinations. The addition of the defence-type categories to the grading structure necessitated an increase in the number of attack-defence combinations included in the grading, hence the disproportionate 146% increase.

These insights, this new and better understanding that arises from these insights, has significant implications for those who teach in the JDJ tradition, the JDJ ryuha, which will be explored in future posts.

*The Kodokan SSnK is known as kime no kata in Kodokan judo, which is translated as 'kata of decision' or 'forms of decision.' JDJ used the phrase KnK in his dan grading system to refer to revision gradings. 

'Let's don't think that we can learn this in 20 days'

My plans to terminate this blog are not going according to plan.

This blog accumulating the information and telling the story of Jan de Jong has and is attracting contributions from those who knew him and/or trained under him. The latest is a membership card from JDJ's school in Rotterdam in 1946.

Would love a current photo, and even a 1940s photo, of Leede 60, Rotterdam Zuid.

 The left hand side says: Please bring this card with you every first lesson of the month.

The right hand side says: The development of jiu jitsu has taken 20 decades. So lets don’t think that we can learn this in 20 days.

The card is dated 1946 and is number 69. 

The card is for Kees (Cees) Kranendonk. The Nationale Veteranen Commissie Budo in Holland published a eulogy for Kees on their Facebook page as he passed away this month. It would appear that he was still active in judo in Holland. Nearly 75 years in jujutsu and judo starting with JDJ right after WWII ended. JDJ would be chuffed.

 This photo is apparently a young Piet Hesselink who JDJ handed his school over to when he left Holland for Indonesia. Hesselink was reputedly the first shodan that JDJ graded.

This photo is reproduced for atmospherics about the time period we are discussing. It is of JDJ and Rienier Hulsk who he trained with when he arrived in Holland in 1940 before teaching for him and ultimately branching out with his own school.

One of the photos in the set with JDJ and RH has been reproduced in Naverteld verleden: Jiujitsu in het verzet in Nederland 1940-1945 (Retold past: Jiujitsu in the 1940-1945 resistance) by J.H.G. Smits. Most of the information in that book about JDJ was taken from this blog.

Secucing and Killing Nazis: Hannie, Truus, and Freddie

For those following this blog, you'd have read the series of posts on the three Dutch female teenagers who were part of the Dutch Resistance during WWII. They are now the subject of a book.

You will recognise all of the information in this news article on the book and its subject matter.

According to the authors home page, it is the best seller ever on Amazon in Dutch history.

And of course there is a Facebook page.

Ave Atque Vale Wim Zwiers

My previous post was about shutting down this blog. That is still my intention. The delay has been in part due to avoidance and in part, mundanely, old-man wise, I don't know how to do so without losing the content.

I don't want to lose the content because I've found that people are interested in this work and are referencing it. I posted how part of my Jan de Jong story was included in a book about jujutsu in Holland during WWII. Someone else recently contacted me about my source of information about Hannie Schaft, the girl with the red hair, and her two teenage accomplices in the Dutch resistance. Apparently I have sourced more material than is currently available in any one source. Others have kindly contacted me to express their gratitude for developing and informing on the story of Jan de Jong.

However, another milestone has occurred this week that needs to be recorded and acknowledged as part of the Jan de Jong story. I was informed that Wim Zwiers passed away.

Wim was a friend of Jan de Jong's from WWII. He designed an ex libris (see above) for Jan de Jong which then went on to become the logo for his school. Please follow this link to my post about Wim and this logo.

Wim and Jan de Jong told me the story of how they met during WWII. Wim went to complain about the noise coming from a party that Jan de Jong was hosting. Jan de Jong responded by folding him up in a bed that folded into the wall and wouldn't let him out until he agreed to join the party. He agreed and they became life long friends after that.

I met Wim with Jan de Jong on one of our teaching tours throughout Western Europe. It was a highlight of my trip. He was an amazing artist, a down-to-earth character, an incredible intellect. Just check our some of his work on this link.

His lounge room was an amazing collection of art. Some of his, but some from others who had created and gifted them to him in memory of his departed wife. All of the art had a story and meaning, and I was fortunate enough for Wim to share with me those stories and meanings.

Wim showed me how he created his ex libris. They are etched on a copper plate before they are printed on a paper by an old hand-cranked printing press. They are limited quantities as the printing process eventually wears down the copper plate. A fascinating aspect of this process is that he had to etch the copper plate in reverse, a mirror image. The etching he was working on when he was giving me the tour of his studio was a commissioned work of a person's deceased cat, however, he was using pointillism to etch the image.

I was fortunate to be gifted a work by Wim which now sits proudly on our wall and which is included at the top of this post.

Ave atque vale, I salute you and farewell, Wim Zwiers.

Naverteld verleden: Jiujitsu in het verzet in Nederland 1940-1945

Naverteld verleden: Jiujitsu in het verzet in Nederland 1940-1945 (Retold past: Jiujitsu in the 1940-1945 resistance) by J.H.G. Smits

A chapter is devoted to Jan de Jong in Smits' book about jujutsu in Holland during WWII and its role in the Resistance.

The information and photographs reproduced in that book have been sourced from this blog and with my permission. The source, this blog, and my contribution has been acknowledged in Smits' book.

It is a source of satisfaction that I can contribute and add to Shihan Jan de Jong OAM 9th dan's memory and that others recognise and appreciate that contribution and addition.

I received many expression of gratitude and interest in that work in response to my previous post on de Jong's shodan grading evolution.

I would like to leave the readers with a quote from The Name of the Rose: 'Books are not made to be believed, but to be subjected to inquiry.'

My work is not meant to be definitive and should be subject to (informed and thoughtful) inquiry in order to challenge the foundations of the work and possibly to add to the body of knowledge that it seeks to contribute to.

RIP Freddie Oversteegen

You will recall the tales shared about the 'girl with the red hair' and her two comrades. RIP Freddie.

http://schoolofjandejong.blogspot.com/2012/02/het-meisje-met-het-rode-haar-girl-with.html

http://schoolofjandejong.blogspot.com/search/label/WWII

Two Sisters In The Resistance

I published previous posts about Hannie Schaft (the 'girl with the red hair') and the Oversteegen sisters and their involvement in the Dutch Resistance. Vice Netherlands published an interview with Freddie Oversteegen (right in 1945), the younger of the sisters, and refer to a new documentary on these extraordinary women who were only young girls when they fought during WWII: 'Two Sisters In The Resistance.' Let's hope we get to see it.

Further WWII Images of De Jong's Legacy

The following were received from a member of Shihan Jan de Jong OAM 9th Dan's first family which adds to the documentation associated with his legacy.

This is the ex libris that De Jong had designed by Wim Zwiers, a renown artist in Holland, which came to be the logo for his school.

The above includes an address - Leede 60 Rotterdam Zuid - which was his first wife's parents address.

The second photo is of a membership card to his school in Holland during and just post WWII.

Gelieve deze kaart elke eerste les van de maand mede te brengen - Please bring this card with you every first lesson of the month.

De ontwikkeling van het Jiu Jitsu heeft twintig eeuwen geduurd. Laten we niet denken, dat we deze kunst in twintid dagen te leren is. - The development of the Jiu Jutsu has taken 20 centuries. Let us not think that we can learn this art in twenty days.

The latter statement is gold.

PS: Part of this blog is to act as a lightening rod for others who were involved with De Jong to contribute to the body of knowledge and images that is being developed. These images forwarded to me by members of his family and the memorabilia forwarded to me by a member of his school from the 1950s has supported that intention. Thank you.

The Perfect Storm

Sensei Ross Taylor (right) is a highly respected aikidoka in Perth who has established his own aikido school. Sensei Taylor posted a message on Facebook yesterday commemorating the sixth anniversary of the passing of his instructor, Yoshiaki Unno.

Sensei Taylor's post gave me cause to consider the set of circumstances that had to come together in order for him to develop a passion for aikido which led to his founding of his school. It included colonialism, two wars, the force of nature, climate, language, politics, scarce resources, immigration, a dysfunctional relationship, and a 20 year old man who, in 1940, wanted to become a pilot.

The 20yo man was Jan de Jong and he lived in the Dutch colony of Indonesia pre-1940. In 1940 he travelled to Holland to fulfill his ambition of becoming a pilot. Unfortunately he got caught up in WWII, which fortunately meant he had to turn to teaching jujutsu in order to earn money and survive.

The end of WWII saw nature impose a harsher winter than normal on Holland. This winter came to be known as the 'Hunger Winter' because of the deprivations the occupation and the weather imposed on the Dutch.

In order to escape the deprivations of Holland at that time, De Jong returned to equatorial Indonesia. He returned to a nation which was violently struggling for independence.

After 10 years of war (WWII followed by the Indonesian War of Independence), De Jong decided to relocate to a more peaceful environment. His Hunger Winter experience disinclined him to consider the northern hemisphere, so the options were reduced to Argentina, South Africa, and Australia. Argentina was rejected on language grounds; South Africa was rejected on political grounds (apartheid); so through the process of elimination Australia was chosen. Perth was selected because of its proximity to Indonesia.

In Perth, De Jong started teaching work colleagues jujutsu during their breaks and after work which led to his founding of the Jan de Jong Self Defence School. This would eventually become his full-time occupation.

I have argued throughout this blog that De Jong developed his jujutsu system. He would tell us that the Dutch would think him insane because he would always run to his apartment during an air raid to retrieve his suitcase of martial arts books which he would take with him to the shelter. I now appreciate that this was in no way a collector's idiosyncrasy. These books were the source of his continued professional development. De Jong was the epitome of a life long commitment to continuous improvement.

In Perth, De Jong became involved with Phillipe Boiron who introduced him to Minoru Mochizuki's Yoseikan Budo. In 1969, aged 48, De Jong travelled to Japan to continue his professional development by training under Mochizuki.

Wishing to continue his professional development, De Jong petitioned Mochizuki to send an instructor to Perth to teach in his school. Mochizuki sent Yoshiaki Unno.

Unno teaching for De Jong was always going to end in tears. Unno held the grades of 7th dan aikido, 7th dan karate, 6th dan kobudo (weapons), 4th dan bojutsu and 2nd dan judo. He also taught kenjutsu. At that time, De Jong was only graded 3rd dan jujutsu and 1st dan aikido (in addition to his pencak silat qualification). The inevitable happened and Unno left the employ of De Jong to establish his own school.

One of Unno's many students was Ross Taylor who then went on to found his own school. Quite amazing. But I suppose it is just one amazing story of many associated with people's involvement in the martial arts.

The White Mouse

In previous blogs I've been telling the story of the Dutch 'girl with the red hair'. An inspirational female Dutch resistance fighter. We in Australia have our own Hannie Schaft. She is Nancy Wake.

Wake died in August of last year. She died as Australia's most decorated WWII heroine. She died in England, not Australia. The newspaper article today suggests 'Australia pays tribute to Nancy Wake' (http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/national/13216512/australia-pays-tribute-to-nancy-wake/); too little, too late.

In her biography, Peter Fitzsimmons writes that she wanted to leave Australia and spend her remaining years in Britain or France.

'I only want one room,' she told her second biographer at their first meeting, 'a bathroom and a small kitchen, anywhere over there. The people of Port Macquarie have been wonderful to me, as have most individual Australians I've met, but I just feel the need to go to where I am appreciated.'

An example of the 'appreciation' she receives in France is that when she is wearing the rossette of her Officer de Legion d'Honneur, all the gendarmes salute her, and even stop the traffic so she may cross the road. The Australian Government recently made contact to see if she would accept having her achievements acknowledged by their awarding her an Australian medal, but she knocked them back outright.

'No,' she says flatly. 'The last time there was a suggestion of that I told the government they could stick their medals where the monkey stuck his nuts. The think is if they gave me a medal now, it wouldn't be given with love so I don't want anything from them.'

As well as the Legion d'Honneur, Wake was awarded Britain's George Medal and the US Medal of Freedom. But despite the international recognition, it took 60 years for Australia to honour her service, awarding her the Companion of the Order of Australia in 2004.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard today described Ms Wake as a person of exceptional courage whose action saved hundreds of lives. 'Nancy Wake was a woman of exceptional courage and resourcefulness whose daring exploits saved the lives of hundreds of Allied personnel and helped bring the Nazi occupation of France to an end,' Ms Gillard said. 'Today our nation honours a truly remarkable individual whose selfless valour and tenacity will never be forgotten. Nancy Wake will remain an abiding inspiration to generations of Australians.'

It took the Australian government sixty years to 'pay tribute' to our most decorated service woman. Nancy Wake may have had a point. Once again the representative of the people, the government, failed to represent the people in a sincere fashion.

In reference to her ability to elude capture, the Gestapo called Wake the 'White Mouse.' By 1943, she was the Gestapo's most wanted person, with a 5 million-franc price on her head.

'A little powder and a little drink on the way, and I'd pass their (German) posts and wink and say, "Do you want to search me?" God, what a flirtatious little bastard I was.'

On the night of 29–30 April 1944 she was parachuted into the Auvergne, becoming a liaison between London and the local maquis group headed by Captain Henri Tardivat. Upon discovering her tangled in a tree, Captain Tardivat greeted her remarking, 'I hope that all the trees in France bear such beautiful fruit this year,' to which she replied, 'Don’t give me that French shit.'

She was often less than welcomed by the partisans when she first made contact, as they could not believe that they had been sent 'une femme'; they simply refused to treat her with respect. She decided to teach them respect. She would engage the partisan leaders in drinking contests, and when she was the 'last man' left standing at dawn - and she always was - they would look at her with new eyes.

One evening Wake was dining with friends in the reopened British Officers Club in Paris when she got into a blue - not for the first or last time - with an uppity waiter. This waiter thought he had won the confrontation by saying he would much prefer to serve the Germans than the likes of her and her noisy friends.

She reflected on this for perhaps half a second before leaping to her feet and knocking him senseless with a right hook. As she recounted, as soon as another alarmed waiter rushed to his fallen colleague with a glass of brandy, she grabbed it, drained it in two seconds, said 'Merci', and walked on out the door. That was Nancy Wake.

Nancy Wake was the Australian that we Australians like to think we are.

She became instrumental in recruiting more members and making the maquis groups into a formidable force, roughly 7,500 strong. She also led attacks on German installations and the local Gestapo HQ in Montluçon.

At one point Wake discovered that her men were protecting a girl that was a German spy. They did not have the heart to kill her in cold blood, but Wake did. She said after that it was war, and she had no regrets about the incident.

From April 1944 to the liberation of France, her 7,000 maquisards fought 22,000 SS soldiers, causing 1,400 casualties, while taking only 100 themselves. Her French companions, especially Tardivat, praised her fighting spirit, amply demonstrated when she killed an SS sentry with her bare hands to prevent him from raising the alarm during a raid.

During a 1990s television interview, when asked what had happened to the sentry who spotted her, Wake simply drew her finger across her throat. 'They'd taught this judo-chop stuff with the flat of the hand at SOE, and I practised away at it. But this was the only time I used it - whack - and it killed him all right. I was really surprised.'

On another occasion, to replace codes her wireless operator had been forced to destroy in a German raid, Wake rode a bicycle for more than 500 miles (800 km) through several German checkpoints. During a German attack on another maquis group, Wake, along with two American officers, took command of a section whose leader had been killed. She directed the use of suppressive fire which facilitated the group's withdrawal without further losses.

Wake was particularly proud of her marathon ride: 'I got back and they said "how are you?" I cried. I couldn't stand up, I couldn't sit down. I couldn't do anything. I just cried.'

'She is the most feminine woman I know until the fighting starts. Then, she is like five men,' one French colleague said of her

Women, take note.

In 2001, Wake left Australia for the last time and emigrated to London. She became a resident at the Stafford Hotel in St James's Place, near Piccadilly, formerly a British and American forces club during the war. She had been introduced to her first 'bloody good drink' there by the general manager at the time, Louis Burdet. He had also worked for the Resistance in Marseilles. In the mornings she would usually be found in the hotel bar, sipping her first gin and tonic of the day. She was welcomed at the hotel, celebrating her 90th birthday there, where the hotel owners absorbed most of the costs of her stay. In 2003, Wake chose to move to the Royal Star and Garter Home for Disabled Ex-Service Men and Women in Richmond, London, where she remained until her death.

THE ashes of World War II resistance fighter Nancy Wake will be scattered over the French land she parachuted into to fight Nazis in 1944.

That says it all, doesn't it.

The heroine in Sebastian Faulks's 1999 novel Charlotte Gray is said to be based on Nancy Wake. Fittingly, the role in the movie of the novel was played by the brilliant Australian actor Cate Blanchett. She tells the story of the locals in France being involved in the movie, and how the older locals who had experienced the invasion during WWII where in tears when they saw the movie tanks and soldiers crossing the bridge into their town.

I am in awe of the people who resisted during WWII. These stories inform of a time in which Jan de Jong, a 21 year old 'boy' also resisted. Risking torture, injury, and death, for a greater good. I compare these people to us of today, none too favourably I have to confess.

Shin Gi Tai: Karate Training for Body, Mind, and Spirit - Jan de Jong's Passing

Mike Clarke published Shin Gi Tai: Karate Training for Body, Mind, and Spirit in 2011. It contains the following passage associated with Jan de Jong's passing, which I will comment on.

Some years ago, I had the privilege of meeting a master of jujutsu; his name was Jan de Jong.

Followers of the last couple of postings will be left in no doubt with regards to the esteem with which Clarke held De Jong.

He died in April 2003, and in many respects his death was nothing unusual. He was in this eighties and had lived through many difficult and challenging times. Fighting against the German occupation forces in his native Holland during the Second World War, as a youthful member of the Dutch Resistance Movement, gave him a particular slant on life and the best way to live it.

Readers of this blog will be acquainted with De Jong's WWII experience. As to the 'best way to live', I would suggest his experience gave him a way to live life, not necessarily the best way to live life. Does a sexual assault victim/survivor's experience give them a perspective that enables them to determine the best way to live life? It gives them a particular perspective on how to live a life, that is all. De Jong's compulsion to eat everything that was put in front of him born of near starvation during the Hunger Winter in 1945 in Holland could never be described as the best way to live. There are many paths, as the over used axiom goes.

When De Jong was diagnosed with a terminal condition, it came as a shock to everyone who knew him, especially his family. As you might expect, people close to him grew more and more sad as his health declined, and he entered hospital to receive what comfort the medical world could offer.

I'm not sure how much of a shock it came to everyone who knew him. I cannot say for sure how his family felt as I was estranged with them by that time. De Jong only entered hospital in the last few/couple of days before he passed away. Did people grow more and more sad as his health declined. I cannot speak for anyone else. All I can do is speak for myself. Someone who loved De Jong, who thought of him as more than the head instructor of a tradition/school in which he was emotionally invested. I thought of him as a very dear friend. Our relationship transended the Australian ultimate relationship of mateship. Was I sad as his health declined? Not really. You see, De Jong really did teach philosophy without being preachy or pious about it. He taught pragmatism; by whatever Eastern philosophical name you care to attribute to it. We all die, not everyone lives. De Jong lived, now he was going to die.

But for the man himself there was no sense of sadness, only acceptance.

Reinforcing my previous statement. Not once in all the times I saw him did he ever even utter a regretful or sorrowful word.

He spoke of having a wonderful life and of being blessed by his wife, his children, and his many long-time students, some of whom had trained with him for well over thirty years.

He didn't speak of those things to me, not when he was terminal and in his home. De Jong did the 'Tuesdays with Morrie' experience with me when I would take him to dinner and/or the movies and we'd sit in my car outside his house when I'd taken him home. Otherwise, De Jong was always, always looking to the future. The last time I saw him, three week before he passed away, he was giving me instructions on what I needed to work on to demonstrate to the pencak silat instructors class, and he wanted to contribute to the how-to book I was writing on the jujutsu that he taught. Reflection was not a very big feature of De Jong's, unless it was to inform the future.

It has to be said, however, De Jong was very proud of his instructors. His jujutsu dan grades were and are oriented towards producing instructors, not necessarily practitioners. His dan grades are about 'training the trainer'. He spoke often of how proud he was of his instructors and their ability and knowledge to instruct.

He laughed and joked and made light of the finality of the event about to take place, and when it came, he stepped away from this world lightly as a butterfly lifting from a leaf.

Clarke nailed it with the laughing, joking, and making light of his shifting off this mortal coil, but the rest of the description is his own literary expansion. For me, it does not tend to be reflective of De Jong. He was a restless soul. If there is another existence after this, De Jong would not have drifted into it. Forget the butterfly, and despite machismo-oriented, he was no hawk, but he would have been some busy bird constantly flying about building something. He would have emerged from with existance with a desire to be active and to build.

He not only lived well, but he had the great personal courage to die well. He was aware of what was happening and faced it clearly, calmly, and with great dignity. As strange as it might seem to some, his example of being 'present' at his own death displayed a level of almost unimaginable gallantry that I find truly inspirational.

Now THAT is a sentiment I can stand behind. I'll buy that t-shirt. His final act in this world was an inspirational act. He lived, and died, by example.

Budo Masters: Paths to a Far Mountain

Michael Clarke published Budo Masters: Paths to a Far Mountain in 2000.

The publisher's note describes Budo Masters as being about some of the teachers who fashioned not only the scenes of martial arts which were being played out all over the world during the days of Roaring Silence (another of Clarke's books), and whose influence, now somewhat diminished by the passage of time, still continues to play a part in the present martial arts world.

Clarke provides the following description of Budo Masters on his blog:

Budo Masters is a series of nine interviews, just some I have conducted with notable sensei from different martial arts and backgrounds over the years. From Judo - Robin O'Tani, from Aikido - Seiichi Sugano, from Jututsu - Jan de Jong, from Kung fu - Tei Seiryu; and finally from karate there are interviews with Shoshin Nagamine, Eiichi Miyazato, Hirokazu Kanazawa and Tatsuo Suzuki, and Shigeru Kimura. Many of these men are no longer with us and so their words and opinions are even more worthy of consideration and preservation.

Too true, too true. That is the reason for this blog site. To preserve for posterity and to share the De Jong story.

De Jong is the only Caucasian budo master included in Budo Masters.

Much of the chapter on Jan de Jong is based on the Fighting Arts International article which was the subject of the previous blog.

With over sixty years of martial arts training behind him, that knowledge is extensive, as is his personal library of books and video tapes. I noticed also, for it was hard not to do so, that he still retains his enthusiasm; not only for jujutsu, but also for silat, and other martial arts.

De Jong's study, where you would most often find him when he was at home, was lined floor to ceiling with shelves filled with books. The magazines were stored in the adjoining room, and special books were kept in his bedroom. Seated in that room talking to De Jong, you felt embraced by this martial arts knowledge.

Dr Suess: 'Be awesome! Be a book nut!' De Jong was awesome.

Dr Suess: 'Remember me and smile, for it's better to forget than to remember me and cry.' A sentiment that echoes De Jong.

Clarke's observation concerning De Jong's enthusiasm for jujutsu and silat is accurate. The last time I saw De Jong, three weeks prior to his passing, he ended up demonstrating certain techniques he'd been thinking about, and gave me a sequence of silat moves he wanted me to study and demonstrate in the silat instructor's class. The last thing he said to me was that he was looking forward to seeing the work I'd done on the how-to book on his jujutsu. Being an elderly man, he would sometimes fall asleep while at the table talking, however, when the discussion turned to martial arts, he was always wide awake.

When describing aspects of the jujutsu methods he teaches, he refers to six types of blocks. He also refers to unbalancing methods which includes four types from four different hand grabs. Given the focus on theory to inform practice in the school, the six types of blocks were often referred to as unbalancing methods from moving attacks.

When unbalancing is considered from a biomechanical perspective, it's easy to see that three of the six types of blocks do not physically unbalance an opponent. When this anomaly was raised by myself with senior instructors, certain explanations were provided that attempted to fit practice with theory. These explanations were wrong. These explanations were (a) an exercise in shoehorning, and (b) a misunderstanding of the purpose of classifying blocks. The classification came out of De Jong's silat and was not a classification of unbalancing methods from moving attacks. This serves as a salutary tale where theory is used but does not inform practice; where it is misapplied.

The civilian population lived in fear of their lives, and even a trip to buy food could end in disaster. With no other obvious way open to him to make money, De Jong sensei started teaching jujutsu. After the first year he decided to open his own school and within a few months he had over 300 students enrolled. He never asked the Germans what they thought about this.

I recall De Jong making that comment on many occassions about not asking the Germans what they thought about his teaching jujutsu.

He told me of a time when he and a few friends were walking together and they were approached by some German soldiers. The soldiers were selecting a certain number of Dutch civilians to be executed in reprisal for a Resistance action. Two of the group were selected for execution, obviously not De Jong. When it is your time ... There was no reason the soldiers chose the other two and not De Jong. He showed me a newspaper clipping of the notice in which the execution of the ten people was announced, and for their various 'crimes.'

Back in 1955 I had ten students, but no mats to train on. One day I was demonstrating what we call a 'bridge fall' when both my legs crashed through the floor boards. That's when I definitely decided to get mats!

For a long time I taught only jujutsu. I did have a small number of students to whom I taught silat, but I did this only to maintain my own level of training. Nevertheless, I wasn't too keen to teach silat to westerners at that time. What I did was to wait and see if someone could apply himself really well to jujutsu. I looked to see if I could find people with really good character and attitude. If I found one I would ask him if he would like to study silat.

Each year he receives many requests from jujutsuka around the world by letter, fax and email. The demand is so high that De Jong sensei annually leaves Perth and embarks on a teaching tour around the world. Then he also teaches in other places in Australia, and given the size of the country this involves as much travelling as would a tour of Europe.

Clarke over extends his argument. De Jong's teaching tours were of Europe and not the world. I discussed this with De Jong after attending a number of seminars conducted by Wally Jay in London. Jay conducted world tours; De Jong conducted European tours. De Jong was the equal of Jay in every way. In fact I found, after analysing their seminars in preparation for my own to be presented in Rotterdam, Holland, that they used the same seminar technique to motivate the interest of the attendees, even though they didn't recognise the technique themselves.

Jay used a 'principle' (small circle theory); De Jong adopted a systems approach to understanding and studying his tactics, although he didn't understand he adopted a systems approach and the power of that approach. When I convinced him to adopt that approach in his seminars in southern Sweden one year, the level of interest in De Jong's teachings by instructors was unprecedented.

The difference between Jay and De Jong that explains why the former conducted world tours and the latter only European tours lays in the fact that the former published two books and the latter published none. Jay's two books, it has to be said, are nothing special, but they are publications nonetheless. They promote Jay and his teachings and lend credibility to those teachings. I tried to convince De Jong to publish any how-to book, but he always declined. He said that if they had a book they wouldn't need him. No matter how hard I tried to convince him that the exact opposite would be the case, he wouldn't be convinced.

Dr Suess: 'Oh, the places you'll go. The things you will see!' ... if only you'd have listened to me :).

Michael Clarke and Jan de Jong

Michael Clarke (not the Australian cricket captain) is a noted karateka and a published author. He's had articles published in magazines both in Australian and abroad, and has published a number of books, all to do with the martial arts.

Clarke writes a very informative and interesting blog titled Shinseidokan Dojo (shinseidokandojo.blogspot.com.au)

Remembering the past, but heading for the future - a conversation with jujitsu master Jan de Jong, 8th dan. Australasian Fighting Arts. 1991. 14(6): 11-16.

By anyone's standards Sensei Jan de Jong ... is an impressive man. Not because of his physical build or an overly forceful character, but because of his presence. he is an easy man to relax with and this is due, in part, to his age ... and the fact that he goes out of his way to make you feel welcome.

De Jong describes how he met Rienier Hulsk in Holland in 1940 which started his lifelong jujutsu teaching career.

At that time I was graded 3rd dan by my Sensei, Mr Saito, who lived back in Java. I really needed the money and so that's how I started teaching. Then after a year I decided I would open my own school and within a couple of months I had about 300 students!

Regarding the war:

De Jong: it's not a time I really like to talk about. Because war is such a stupid thing and it turns people into creatures that do the most horrible things to other human beings.

De Jong describes his response to a question posed by his pencak silat teacher, Suhadi:

'Why do you want to do silat? You're a white boy; you should be doing tennis or something like that.' I told him that it was my heart that wants to do silat. I had always been very interested in Indonesian art and the culture, and to me this was a part of that.

De Jong on training silat in Indonesia in late 1940s:

To me it was playing. Things then were not like it is now. You did not have the strict discipline that there is in martial arts classes today. But you know, I think that sometimes you can take discipline too far. For instance, I had a couple of English guys training with me once and they said how nice it was that they could actually talk to me. I asked them what they meant by that, and they told me that in England they could not talk to the Shihan directly unless he spoke to them. Now that's ridiculous, I think. In all the time I was in Japan training I never had rules like that to contend with. I think that's taking things too far.

I actually experienced this when I trained in England, and saw it evident in some instructors on various seminars we presented at in Europe. Not only were you not suppose to talk to the instructor on the mats, but also in the dojo generally, and even outside the dojo. I kid you not.

We often liked to think we were immune to this way of thinking. Generally that was true, but not always. I recall a senior instructor instructing me not to question De Jong during an instructor's class. De Jong taught us very well. If what he was teaching went against the principles he taught us, I suggest it is disrespectful not to question the teaching.

De Jong demonstrating his lifelong love of food in his description of Perth when he emigrated in 1952:

Perth was not a big, modern city it is now. In fact, in many ways it was a backward place. ... Do you know I could not even get a Chinese meal in Perth at that time? Nor could I get an Indonesian meal either. There were three Italian restaurants and that was it!

De Jong explains that he originally didn't teach silat to the general public. Attendance to closed-door training sessions was by invitation only, and only after De Jong had determined the prospective student was of 'good character and attitude.' In the mid sixties there was a large demand for karate instruction, so he relented and advertised classes in the newspaper:

To my surprise, on the day of the classes there were queues of people all the way down the road. Many of the top karate people in Perth started with me around that time. Brian Mackie - who is with Goju Kai now - he stared with me at that time. Also Denis Purvis got to yellow belt in jujutsu before he left me and went his own way.

Mackie is director and chief instructor of the IKGA in Australia, 7th Dan Kyoshi Shihan, and has been teaching at the Karate Academy of Japan in Perth since 1966. Purvis went on to form the Denis Purvis Karate Academy. There was also Branco Bratich who is now Chief Instructor for Yoseikan Ryu Karate Australia.

De Jong explains how he changed the Indonesian way of teaching to fit the Australian culture. Clarke asks if De Jong thought it was a good idea to change the system to suit the students.

Yes, I know what you're saying, but you know you can learn all the time. And if the results are better one way than the other, why carry on in a way that gives poorer results? I'll give you an example. In 1978 a Major Greg Mawkes MBE asked me if I would go and teach the army self-defence. I said okay and soon afterwards found myself teaching members of the SAS and the Commandoes. Shortly after I had started to do this the Major and I had a discussion about things. He told me that he thought the method of fighting was really good and he was pleased with that. But he said the men were having some difficulty understanding it all. I said this was the usual way of things and that my students were the same. He then explained the army did not have unlimited time to spend on this and that what he needed was quick results.

So it was at that point I had to think things through and see what I cold come up with. I looked at the usual way the army taught things and decided I would alter the way I was teaching and come more in line with the army way of doing things. Well, do you know, the people started to pick things up much faster than before, and they could do the techniques much better than before! So I had a talk with my Instructors and said I thought that we should change things so that we were teaching everyone like this. And at that time we changed the way we taught the students. The techniques were still the same, it was only the method of teaching them that was different. And since then things have been much better.

A bit on Mawkes (not included in Clarke's article):

Major Mawkes (Retd) served in the Regular Army for 22½ years including two tours of Vietnam with 1 SAS Squadron. He was appointed as a Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to SAS in the 1982 New Year’s Honours list, specifically for establishing Australia’s military counter-terrorist capability.

De Jong's explanation is very telling. It shows that he was results oriented; results being defined in practical terms. It shows his leadership style was often consultative. It also shows his never ending quest for finding better ways to teach.

What's not included in the explanation is the influence of Mochizuki's Yoseikan in De Jong's army-inspired new way of teaching. What was this new way of teaching? As we've seen above, De Jong was not a fan for an 'army style' discipline way of teaching. No, what it was was to divide a tactic into phases in order to be able to better teach, learn, and analyse it. A very readable book on this approach is Gerry Carr's Sport Mechancis for Coaches. This division into phases can be seen in Mochizuki's Nihonden Jujutsu. You can check for yourself. A copy of this book is available for sale on ebay, for US$4,000.

The next few blogs will be devoted to Clarke's works on De Jong.

Truus Oversteegen - 16yo female Resistance fighter

Truus Oversteegen was involved with Hannie Schaft, the girl with the red hair, in the Dutch Resistance during WWII which I wrote about in my last blog. Truus was only 16 when she joined Hannie in their Resistance activities. The picture to the right is a rare photograph of Hannie and Truus in action. Hannie is on the right after she dyed her hair black and took to wearing fake glasses to avoid being identified as 'the girl with the red hair'; Truus is on the left dressed as a man so they could pretend to be a couple while they waited for their next target.

Not a lot is written about Truus. The girl with the red hair has books published, movies produced, streets and squares named after her, foundations established in her honour, and even a planet named after her. What about 16yo Truus? I decided to see what I could find out about the 16yo Truus who used to assassinate collaborators, traitors, and German secret police from a bicycle.

Hannie was 19, Truus was 16 and Freddie only 14 at the beginning of the war. Truus became the leader when they worked together because Hannie was a bit dreamy, according to Truus, and Freddie was still too young.

They have aptly been referred to as 'three children in Resistance'. 16 and Truus is leading a 19yo and 14yo in assassinations and sabotage, among other things.

Truus and Freddie thought Hannie was a German infiltrator when they first met. Truus and Freddie responded very coolly. The director of the emergency hospital felt that there was tension and gave them her room so the girls could talk seriously there. Hannie introduced herself as Miss de Wit and said she was sent by the French. 16yo Truus and 14yo Freddie had their guns ready and asked Hannie to explain as they didn't believer her story. 19yo Hannie also had her gun ready to shoot. There was a lengthy silence, and when it became unbearable, Truus suddenly began to laugh uncontrollably. The girls saw how stupid the situation was and then began to laugh 'scandalously'. Hannie put her gun on the table so Truus and Freddie knew it was all right. From then on, Hannie, Truus and Freddie were good friends and they worked together in the Resistance.

Truus recalls some of these actions together. One of them was the liquidation of the collaborator Ko Langendijk. Hannie shot this man from the back seat of Truus' bicycle. A bit further on they went into a pub. Truus showed her gun to the customers and indicated that, if the Germans would ask, they should say they had been there for hours. After putting on a bit of tarty make-up, 'a bit posh', they sat at a table acting drunk. Passing Germans were not impressed by these two 'cuddly' ladies and, after a brief check, left them alone.

The following is a link to an interview with Truus. In it she (a) talks about how she always carried a gun, (b) how she killed a Nazi on the spur of the moment (see the interview for the motivation), and (c) how the Dutch general population helped protect her when she committed acts of resistance. She was a child when she engaged in these acts, and she now talks about them looking like a grandmother. Reconciliation between the person and the actions continues to elude me.

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Riding on her bicycle and shooting at the enemy, Truus killed more Germans than she later wished to remember. Through Hannie, Truus became acquainted with a group that transported Jewish children to hiding places. ... In 1944, a Jewish child was riding pillion with Truus. They were just passing German soldiers when a British airplane flew overhead and opened fire on them. When Truus turned around, she saw that the child had been killed, but she had to continue. Steering the bicycle with one hand and holding the dead child in the other, she continued peddling until she arrived at a farm where she buried the child.

On another occasion, Truus dressed up in the uniform of a German woman soldier, entered a concentration camp with false papers and took out a seven-year-old Jewish boy. When she passed the guard, she lifted her arm and said 'Heil Hitler.' The boy kept quiet and to maintain the charade Truus slapped the child and ordered him to say 'Heil Hitler' too. The boy saluted and was saved.

By the end of the war, the Germans were offering 50,000 guilders for her capture, but she managed to stay out of their hands, having a total of 53 addresses across the Netherlands where she could safely go into hiding at any time. After the liberation, Truus had a nervous breakdown, caused partly by the fact that Hannie had been arrested and shot shortly before the liberation, and in part by the suffering of Jewish children that she had witnessed. She married Mr. Menger, a Resistance worker, and they had four children. Truus became a professional artist and painted children's faces for many years, images from the dreams that haunted her. Truus was offered decorations by Eisenhower, underground movements in Western Europe, and partisan organizations in the east. She turned them all down.

When Hannie was arrested, Truus attempted an audacious rescue attempt by dressing as a nurse and trying to convince the Nazis that Hannnie was need for some medical procedure.

Because Truus came from a communistic background she was first denied to make a sculpture of Hannie Schaft in Haarlem. Finally she could because she had won, anonymously, the contest of designing a sculpture. She had been Hannie’s close friend, had worked together with her in the resistance group, had lived in Haarlem and is a sculptor. She is very famous now. She has made some of the great war memorials in the Netherlands, in South Africa, and all over the world, she gives speeches at schools all over the world and wrote a book: "Not then, not now, not ever", about her war experiences. Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands bestowed the honour of a decoration on Truus, despite her refuse of recognition because she doesn’t feel like she is a hero.

Apparently Truus had submitted five proposals under different names. She is said to have said that if she didn't win she was going to emigrate.

The Resistance group Hannie and Truus belonged to was a Communist group. Consequently, following the end of WWII and the engagement in the Cold War, Hannie's memory became a political football. In the 1950s, Hannie's commentary service was banned. Communists and former Resistance fighters gathered to march anyway. They were met with tanks and riot police. Truus remembers:

We saw the tanks from afar and strengthened by the words 'continue to walk comrades, they know we are unarmed.' Slowly we approached the armoured vehicle. The gun on top of the tank moved towards us. All of a sudden a rage came over me. I let go of the floral wreath I was carrying and walked towards the tank. Tears running down my face. I shouted 'Are you really going to shoot on us boy?' I have fought five years for your liberation and you want to fire at us?' Some arrests were made but no shots were fired.

We tend to think that VE Day was the end of WWII. It was not for many.

Truus named her eldest daughter Hannie after her murdered comrade and friend. The daughter is the head of the Hannie Schaft Foundation. Truus established an orphanage in Soweto, South Africa for mentally and physically handicapped children. She said these children really needed our help.

Apparently Truus' Not Then, Not Now, Not Ever is available in English. I cannot locate a copy. If anyone could send me a copy I'd be very grateful.

Het meisje met het rode haar: The girl with the red hair

I came across the story of 'Hannie' Schaft when researching the WWII experience of Jan de Jong. An inspirational story that sheds further light on the war years of De Jong.

Jannetje Johanna (Jo) Schaft, was a Dutch resistance fighter whose code name in the Dutch resistance was Hannie. She was born 16 September 1920, died 17 April 1945, aged 24. What were you doing in your 20s? Who were you in your 20s? If you think you are 'hard core' or 'tough', Hannie was the real deal (De Jong was roughly the same age, in the same situation).

Hannie was born in Haarlem, the capital city of the Dutch province of Northern Holland. She was a shy child, perhaps because she was teased by schoolmates for her reddish hair and freckles. Her parents were over protective possibly due to the death of her older sister.

Hannie was a law student at the University of Amsterdam when Holland was invaded by Nazi Germany. Hannie's sense of justice was offended by the laws enacted by the invaders, so, she became involved in small acts of resistance. She went to swimming pools to steal ID cards for Jewish friends, the Jewish ID cards being marked with a 'J' signifying Jew.

In the spring of 1943, the Germans enacted a law requiring all university students to sign a loyalty declaration to Nazi Germany, promising, among other things, to spend a certain amount of time working in Germany after graduation. Hannie, along with 80% of Dutch university students, refused to sign.

Hannie left university and returned home and joined a Resistance organisation called Raad van Verzet (the Council of Resistance), or RVV.

Women were always in demand in RVV as couriers because women were less likely to be stopped and searched as their male counterparts. Hannie wanted to do more. She wanted to fight with weapons.

The RVV agreed to Hannies 'request'. Her first assignment was to assassinate a particular target thought to be a traitor. Hannie fired the gun, only to hear the click on an empty chamber followed by another. The target turned, and introduced himself. It had been a test which Hannie had passed, but she was furious.

Hannie teamed up with sisters Truus and Freddie Oversteegan, 16 and 14 at the beginning of the war. 16 and 14! What were you doing when you were 16 or 14? What are your children doing when they are 16 or 14?

The team engaged in sabotage, and assassinations of Dutch Nazis, Dutch collaborators, and German secret police. They would ride on their bicycles with the passenger being the assassin; 'drive-bys' on a bicycle.

Hannie, Truus, and Freddie, had no qualms about assassinating the abovementioned targets. But when they were instructed to kidnap the children of a Nazi official, they refused. If the plan failed, they'd have to kill the children: 'We are no Hitlerites', Hannie said to Truus and Freddie as they walked away, 'Resistance fighters don't murder children'.

Hannie became recognised because of her red hair being spotted at certain assassinations. She took up a new name, dyed her red hair, and took to wearing fake glasses. Truus would dress as a male and they would pretend to embrace waiting for a target, before Hannie would disengage and assassinate the target.

21 March 1945, Hannie was stopped at a checkpoint and searched. They found underground newspapers, and a pistol, in her handbag. She was arrested, and after being detained for a while, her auburn roots started to show through. The Nazis had captured the girl with the red hair. She was interrogated, tortured, and placed in solitary confinement.

On 17 April 1945, three weeks before the liberation of Holland, Hannie was taken to the sanddunes near Bloemendaal. A German SS officer took a shot and only grazed her temple. 'I can shoot better than that' cried Hannie. ... 'I can shoot better than that' this 24yo conservatively brought up woman shouted to her executioner. I don't know about you, but that is an image I cannot erase from my mind.

A Dutch NSB agent then killed her with a machine gun. She was buried in a shallow grave in the sand dunes. After the war, the bodies of more than 400 resisters were found in those sand dunes, all men and one woman - Hannie Schaft.