The State We're In, 14 January 2012. After almost 70 years, a former Dutch resistance fighter admits she assassinated the wrong man. A Canadian woman tries to help the homeless and learns a life-altering lesson about herself. A South African photographer tries to create beauty in the face of the violence she and other gay women face. And an ex-Mafia princess explains why she took over the family business, and her recent struggle to go straight. Comment on the show.
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Atie Ridder-Visser is now 97. When she was in her 30s, she joined the Dutch resistance and assassinated Felix Gulje, a suspected Nazi collaborator. And she got away with it – even her husband didn't know.
But in 2011, she went public with her story. And then she found out that she'd killed the wrong man.
Atie tells host Jonathan Groubert what it was like to come clean after decades of keeping her secret - and what it was like to meet the descendents of the man she'd wrongly killed. She remains convinced of one thing: that she did what had to be done. More photos below.
Essay: making a difference - listen in new player
Meghan MacIver used to work in what’s been called Canada's 'poorest postal code' - Vancouver's downtown east side - because of its high number of drug addicts, prostitutes and homeless people.
She hoped her job at a shelter would allow her to build relationships with the troubled women who walked through its doors.
Her friendship with one particular resident made her reassess everything she'd believed about making a difference in people's lives.
Zanele Muholi calls herself a photo-activist. As an out lesbian, she documents the lives of other lesbians in Johannesburg, South Africa.
She talks to Jonathan about the horrors women, particularly gay women, face in South Africa, but how she tries to make images of lasting beauty. More photos below.
Zanele Muholi's website - Mapping and Archiving A Visual History of Black Lesbians in post-Apartheid South Africa.
Ex-mafia princess - listen in new player
She had an unconventional childhood, accompanying her parents on cigarette-smuggling runs as a baby.
By age 18, Marisa had become an active member, transporting drugs, money and weapons across borders and even acting as boss when her father was in prison.
Her life of crime finally caught up on her when a family member turned them all in. More photos below.
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I am always very interested in Dutch Resistance stories, and even more so to hear a living witness. thank you, it reminds me how little we know as second generation, and not to draw conclusions or to judge. My dad was in the Dutch resistance, and I know next to nothing of his stories of his experience. His name was Willem Wegman.
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