Killing: Not just physics

A Dutch Resistance Group    (Public Domain)

When a standing person is shot dead, he or she inevitably falls to the ground.  That has been called the “physics of killing.”

But murdering another human being, even one guilty of hideous deeds, entails way more than physics.  An empathetic murderer (oxymoronic as it sounds) may feel something unexpected immediately afterwards.

Freddie Oversteegen recently died a natural death, decades after being a core member of the Dutch resistance to Nazi occupation.  As an innocent-looking schoolgirl, she shot many an enemy official.  Sometimes she would lead an SS target seductively through the woods, then turn on him.  She would often carry hidden weapons in her bicycle basket.

Years later, during an interview with IJmuider Courant, Oversteegen described that unexpected feeling:  Yes, I’ve shot a gun myself and I’ve seen them fall.  And what is inside us at such a moment?  You want to help them get up.

Resources

https://www.msn.com/en-za/news/msn/freddie-oversteegen-dutch-resistance-fighter-who-killed-nazis-through-seduction-dies-at-92/ar-BBNrpb1