Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Soldier of Orange by Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema Information about the Dutch production. Will they fight for freedom, country and the Queen? Go on studying as if nothing’s changed? Or go over to the enemy side? Until the day that German troops invaded the Netherlands in May 1940, Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema and his friends lead ordinary, untroubled lives as students at the University of Leiden. Suddenly, these callow young men are confronted with choices that will change them forever. Friendship, love, everything they’ve ever counted on will be put to the test. Will they fight for freedom, country, and the Queen? Go on studying as if nothing’s changed? Or go over to the enemy side? Soldier of Orange is based on the true story of one of the greatest Dutch resistance war fighters, Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema. After escaping to England at the start of the war, he smuggled radio transmitters into the Netherlands and piloted an RAF plane on bombing runs over Germany. He became aide-de-camp to Queen Wilhelmina and was awarded the highest Dutch military honor for his work in the resistance. In 1970, Hazelhoff Roelfzema published a novel about his adventures. In 1976, the book was made into a successful film by Paul Verhoeven. Soldier of Orange is based on Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema’s own version of the story. Soldier of Orange premiered on October 30, 2010 with the former Queen of the Netherlands Beatrix in attendance. The theatre, where the Dutch production Soldier of Orange plays (currently paused due to Covid-19) is a plane hangar at the former Valkenburg Airport in the Netherlands. The audience experiences the show in ‘SceneAround’, a theatrical performance solution specially developed for this production. The audience is seated on a 360-degree rotating auditorium that turns from set to set, accompanied by 180-degree projections, to create an unforgettable theatre experience. Since 2015 the production has broken all Dutch theatre records. Soldier of Orange played more than 2,800 sold-out performances to a total audience of over 3 million. To purchase tickets for the Dutch production in Katwijk near Leiden, click here. The first English production of Soldier of Orange will open in London in the purpose built Royal Docks Theatre. For more information please click here. Ik word graag op de hoogte gehouden van het laatste nieuws en vrienden-voordelen van Soldaat van Oranje - De Musical en producent NEW Productions. Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema. Siebren Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema DFC RMWO (3 April 1917 – 26 September 2007) was a Dutch wartime RAF-pilot, Dutch spy and writer. He was a Knight 4th class of the Military William Order. In the Netherlands he became famous as the writer of the 1970 book Soldaat van Oranje (Dutch: Soldier of Orange ) in which he describes his experiences in World War II, and which was made into a 1977 film directed by Paul Verhoeven and starring Rutger Hauer. Contents. Early life [ edit | edit source ] Hazelhoff was born in Surabaya, on Java in the Netherlands East Indies (now Indonesia), the son of Siebren Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema, senior, and Cornelia Vreede. His family moved to The Hague in the 1930s, and then Wassenaar. He travelled to the US in 1938, writing a book of his experiences in 1939, Rendezvous in San Francisco . He was a law student at Leiden University when the Second World War broke out. He joined the Dutch army reserve, and became involved in the underground after Germany occupied the Netherlands. He managed to escape to the United Kingdom as a crew member aboard of the Saint Cerque, a Swiss merchant ship in June 1941, together with Bram van der Stok and two others. Secret agent [ edit | edit source ] In London, Hazelhoff Roelfzema, with the help of general François van 't Sant, director of the Dutch CID (Central Intelligence Service) and Col. Euan Rabagliatti (Secret Intelligence Service) set up a secret service group known as the Mews, after Chester Square Mews where they lived in London. The goal was to establish a contact with the Resistance in the Netherlands. Several agents were parachuted, others were put ashore at the beaches of Noordwijk and Scheveningen. Roelfzema did not receive much cooperation from the Dutch government, and Van 't Sant was forced to transfer control over the CID to Colonel Mattheus de Bruyne of the Dutch Marine Corps. De Bruyne did not do a good job. He failed to recognize the fact that his agents were arrested and continued to broadcast messages – for the Germans. The usual procedure for transmitting messages was to include small errors. If an agent was forced to work for the Germans, he would leave out the errors. The result should be that contact was aborted immediately. De Bruyne, however, concluded that the agents simply forgot to use the security-checks and even sent messages to remind them. Other intelligence blunders were the maps he had attached to the wall in his London office, showing the landing sites of Noordwijk, Scheveningen and Walcheren in full detail. Hazelhoff Roelfzema and De Bruyne did not get on. De Bruyne threatened to court-martial for ignoring an order – at the same time Hazelhoff Roelfzema was proposed for the Willemsorde (the highest military decoration in the Netherlands). He was awarded the Willemsorde (Knight, 4th class) in 1942: the court-martial was cancelled after a meeting with Dutch Navy minister Furstner. The 1979 history of the Special Operations Executive network in the Netherlands by M.R.D. Foot has confirmed the degree of German penetration of SOE's Dutch networks, something SOE denied during the War. The British intelligence effort in the Netherlands was penetrated throughout the war, from the capture of two SIS agents, Captain Sigismund Payne Best and Major Richard Stevens in the Venlo Incident in November 1939, to the capture of some 50 British and Dutch agents by the Abwehr and the Sicherheitsdienst in Operation North Pole. Royal Air Force [ edit | edit source ] Hazelhoff Roelfzema became frustrated by the treatment and joined the Royal Air Force in 1942. He attended flying school in Canada, where he became the best pilot cadet of his group. He returned to England in 1944, and joined No. 139 Squadron RAF, part of the elite Pathfinder Force, tasked with illuminating targets for the night bombers of RAF Bomber Command. He made 72 sorties in Mosquito bombers, of which 25 went to Berlin, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Adjudant to the Queen [ edit | edit source ] In April 1945, Hazelhoff Roelfzema was appointed adjudant (assistant) to Queen Wilhelmina. He accompanied her back to the Netherlands in May 1945, and piloted the airplane in which Princess Juliana, Prince Bernhard and their daughter Princess Beatrix flew back to the Netherlands. Hazelhoff Roelfzema helped Beatrix walk her first steps on liberated Dutch soil. After the war [ edit | edit source ] Hazelhoff Roelfzema led a fairly restless life after the war, including a stint in Hollywood as an actor and then a writer. During the 1950s he worked as a writer for NBC's Today Show and Tonight Show in New York City. He later wrote for Dutch newspapers. He was appointed director of Radio Free Europe in Munich in 1956. Later he was involved in a failed attempt by the CIA to support the South Moluccas Republic's bid for independence from the rule of Indonesian dictator Sukarno. [1] He was involved in the creation of Racing Team Holland, attracting sponsors using his fame. His book Soldier of Orange (Soldaat van Oranje), published in 1970, relates his adventures during the war and the political turmoil of the Dutch government in exile. It attracted a lot of attention, even more so when it was made into a film by Paul Verhoeven in 1977, starring Rutger Hauer as Hazelhoff Roelfzema. The film brought Verhoeven, Hauer and Hazelhoff Roelfzema to wider public attention outside the Netherlands, and was nominated for a Golden Globe. In 1980, Hazelhoff Roelfzema played a ceremonial role as one of two kings of arms at the inauguration of Queen Beatrix. He was close to Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, whom he entertained frequently at his home in Maui. He moved to Hawaii in early 1973, and joined energy company Barnwell Industries Inc. as a director in 1977. He wrote a second autobiography, In Pursuit of Life , in 2000. He died on 26 September 2007 at his home in Āhualoa near Honoka ʻ a, on the Island of Hawai ʻ i, at the age of 90. [2] He was survived by his wife, Karin Steensma, and their son, daughter, granddaughter and great-granddaughter. The Soldier of Orange dies at 90. A tiny urn of ashes – bearing only the inscription, Soldier of Orange –will solemnly be carried from an aeroplane at Amsterdam airport on Thursday. For Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, who is rumoured to have planned a royal reception, it will be a poignant moment: the return to his native soil of the remains of Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema, Holland's most heroic and decorated Second World War resistance fighter. The death of Roelfzema, 90, announced yesterday, has saddened a nation – and reminded the world of the brave opponents of the Nazis who risked everything in the struggle for their people's freedom. Queen Beatrix expressed ''great sadness" and Jan Peter Balkenende, the Dutch prime minister, described Roelfzema as ''a great patriot and a very special person". He died last week at his home in Honoka'a in Hawaii, where he had lived since 1973. It was Roelfzema, known in Holland as the Soldier of Orange because of his close links to the Royal Family, who piloted the plane that brought the Queen's late parents, Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard, out of exile and back to Holland after the war. And it was he who accompanied the then seven-year-old Princess Beatrix as she took her first footstep on to her newly liberated homeland. He served at one stage as an adjutant to the House of Orange and it is widely believed that Prince Bernhard was resentful of Roelfzema's close relationship with Queen Juliana. Roelfzema's wartime exploits are the stuff of legend. He wrote an autobiography, called Soldaat van Oranje, which was turned into a Golden Globe-winning and Oscar-nominated film by Paul Verhoeven. In the book, Roelfzema revealed how, as a student when Germany invaded Holland, he survived a bloody firefight with Nazi soldiers and smuggled himself to Britain. Once here, he took part in a series of daring raids to deliver radio equipment to Holland and bring back fellow resistance fighters. In the early 1940s he joined the Royal Air Force, flying for the Pathfinders, whose role was to illuminate targets for Bomber Command. Yet before war broke out in 1939, Roelfzema was an unlikely patriot. A spoiled and lacklustre schoolboy, he struggled to win a place at Leiden University and, once there, Roelfzema paid scant attention to his studies. Instead he concentrated on drinking with friends. When hostilities started in 1939 Roelfzema supposed that Holland would remain neutral as it had during the First World War. Once it became clear that this was not to be the case, he swiftly developed strong loyalties to his country. He joined up but almost immediately the Nazis occupied Holland. Roelfzema and several friends smuggled themselves on board a boat to Britain. Once in London, he set up a secret service group, called the Mews after Chester Square Mews, with the leaders of the Dutch Central Intelligence Agency and the Secret Intelligence Service. Their goal was to establish links with the Dutch resistance by parachuting in agents. Roelfzema undertook dangerous missions, managing to drop dozens of fighters on the beaches of Noordwijk and Scheveningen. His courage was never in question but Roelfzema's volatile temperament and single-minded stubbornness often landed him in trouble. He was threatened with court martial for countermanding orders but the matter was dropped when he was awarded the Willemsorde, Holland's highest military decoration, for bravery. Before long Roelfzema became frustrated with the cloak and dagger tactics and joined the RAF. He trained to fly in Canada, passing out as the best cadet in his squadron. Roelfzema joined the Pathfinder Force with whom he -carried out 72 missions – 25 of them to Berlin. In April 1945, he was appointed adjutant to Queen Juliana, which led to his triumphant return to Holland with the Royal Family. But before long he became restless, finding it difficult to acclimatise to civilian life. Roelfzema moved to Hollywood, enticed by the notion of becoming a film star, but his acting career came to nothing. He became involved with the Racing Team Holland motor sports group and, in 1970, published his autobiography. Verhoeven made it into a film seven years later, casting a then-unknown Rutger Hauer in the title role. Roelfzema and Hauer became lifelong friends. When the actor heard of Roelfzema's death he described him as a ''heroic and patriotic man." Hauer said he was: ''My second father, my friend and my mentor." Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema. During the second world war, clandestine missions from Britain to the Nazi-occupied Netherlands and internal resistance were bedevilled not only by territorial and military disadvantages, but also by rivalries and incompetence among the secret organisations involved on both sides of the North Sea. Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema, who has died aged 90, plunged into this maelstrom on his own initiative, and later emerged as the most famous and decorated Dutch resistance hero. His autobiography, Soldier of Orange, published in 1970, became an international bestseller, made him famous, and in 1977 was turned into an award-winning film by the Dutch director Paul Verhoeven, making a star of Rutger Hauer, the Dutch-born actor who played Hazelhoff and became a close friend. Both the British secret intelligence service (SIS or MI6) and its wartime sabotage offshoot and rival, the special operations executive (SOE), developed an unfortunate capacity for bungling in the Netherlands. In November 1939, two SIS agents, Captain Sigismund Payne Best and Major Richard Stevens, based in the Hague, were lured to a meeting with a German "anti-Nazi leader" at Venlo on the German border. They were promptly abducted and taken to Germany by the SS. This incident was used by Hitler as one of his excuses for invasion six months later. The SOE and its Dutch equivalent sent some 50 agents to their doom after one of the first was captured by the Nazis, who used him and his wireless to lure the rest, along with valuable supply drops, into the waiting arms of the Abwehr (military counter-intelligence) and the Sicherheitsdienst (the security branch of the SS). This highly effective and rare display of cooperation between two bitter-rival agencies later became known as Operation North Pole. Meanwhile, the Dutch cause was not helped by rows with the British or rivalry among resistance groups in the Netherlands as well as fissiparous exile organisations in Britain. When the war broke out, Hazelhoff, who was born in Surabaya, Java, in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), was a law student at Leiden University, enjoying life to the full and keeping study to a minimum. As war loomed, he joined the army reserve. The university catered mostly for an upper and middle-class elite and stoutly opposed the German invasion. After the country was overrun, students seized a train loaded with supplies that was destined for the occupation administration and held a wild party, dressed up in stolen Nazi uniforms. However, the fun did not last long. The Germans closed the university. Hazelhoff joined the nascent local resistance before escaping with friends by boat to England in the summer of 1941. They got away unharmed, despite being spotted and shot at by German soldiers. In London, Hazelhoff helped to set up an informal sabotage organisation known unofficially as the Mews. He took part in a number of missions, delivering agents, weapons and wireless equipment by boat. The Mews was subsumed into the CID, the official Dutch central intelligence department, eventually led by Colonel MR de Bruyne. This combined the SIS-style function of intelligence gathering with the SOE one of sabotage. The two elements were later separated and, later still, recombined, and the CID and its components passed through a series of not always competent chiefs and sets of initials. Hazelhoff, strong-willed and outspoken, often fell out with de Bruyne. The colonel threatened to have him court martialled for insubordination in summer 1942, but he was saved by the award of the William order, the Netherlands' highest decoration. Ultimately, the impatient Hazelhoff became disenchanted with the infighting and joined the air force as a pilot in 1944. He flew 72 missions in Mosquito light bombers on pathfinder missions, dropping flares to guide the RAF's night bombers over enemy territory. He was awarded the DFC. He was appointed aide-de-camp to Queen Wilhelmina in April 1945 and developed a close association with the House of Orange. He flew the Queen home on the liberation of the Netherlands in May of that year, and shortly afterwards brought two future Dutch monarchs - Juliana and her eldest daughter Beatrix - back to Holland. In 1980 he was asked to perform a special ceremonial role at the coronation of Queen Beatrix. After the war, Hazelhoff moved to the US, working in various capacities, including journalism for American television, Dutch newspapers and Radio Free Europe in Munich, where he had lived for a while. He moved to Hawaii in 1973 to work in the oil industry before retiring there. He wrote several other books, including a second autobiography in 2000. He was modest about his achievements, saying that he had became famous only because he wrote a book. "I had the fortune to be recognised, and to grow old." He is survived by his wife, son and daughter. · Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema, resistance fighter, born April 3 1917; died September 26 2007. Erik Hazelhoff-Roelfzema. Dutch World War II Resistance Hero. Known as the "Soldaat van Oranje" ("Soldier of Orange"). Born in Indonesia when it was a Dutch colony, he was attending the University of Leiden when the Nazis occupied the Netherlands. Roelfzema fled to England and became a member of the Dutch resistance movement. In service to the Dutch royal house in exile, he carried out many covert missions delivering radio equipment to the Dutch coast and returning to England with Dutch resistance fighters. He later joined the British Royal Air Force, was sent to Canada to train, and returned to England joining the elite Pathfinder Force. As a pilot he carried out 72 successful missions of marking targets for bombing raids against Germany. In 1945 he was appointed adjutant to Dutch Queen Wilhelmina who honored him after the war with the Militaire Willemsorde (Military Order of William), which bestows knighthood for bravery in battle. He also received the Distinguished Flying Cross from Britain. He wrote of his war memoirs in "Soldier of Orange" (1971), which was made into a movie in 1977. Hazelhoff-Roelfzema is quoted as saying "I became a war hero because I stuck out, because I wrote about my experiences. But behind every soldier decorated with military honors, there are a hundred anonymous heroes, some of them greater. I had the fortune to be recognized and to grow old." After the war he immigrated to the United States, working in various media. Returning to Europe in 1955, he became a producer for Radio Free Europe. In the late 1970's he went to work as a director for Tennessee-based energy company Barnwell Industries. He later convinced the company to move their operations to Hawaii, where it became a major gas and oil developer. In his biography, "In Pursuit of Life", Erik Hazelhoff-Roelfzema commented, "I accept death as I accept life, because there is no choice. He who acknowledges one, can not reject the other. Life didn't scare me, as soon as I knew it worked. For the same reason I do not fear the Dark Prince. I respect his grim task and have to admit: he has put up with a lot from me." Dutch World War II Resistance Hero. Known as the "Soldaat van Oranje" ("Soldier of Orange"). Born in Indonesia when it was a Dutch colony, he was attending the University of Leiden when the Nazis occupied the Netherlands. Roelfzema fled to England and became a member of the Dutch resistance movement. In service to the Dutch royal house in exile, he carried out many covert missions delivering radio equipment to the Dutch coast and returning to England with Dutch resistance fighters. He later joined the British Royal Air Force, was sent to Canada to train, and returned to England joining the elite Pathfinder Force. As a pilot he carried out 72 successful missions of marking targets for bombing raids against Germany. In 1945 he was appointed adjutant to Dutch Queen Wilhelmina who honored him after the war with the Militaire Willemsorde (Military Order of William), which bestows knighthood for bravery in battle. He also received the Distinguished Flying Cross from Britain. He wrote of his war memoirs in "Soldier of Orange" (1971), which was made into a movie in 1977. Hazelhoff-Roelfzema is quoted as saying "I became a war hero because I stuck out, because I wrote about my experiences. But behind every soldier decorated with military honors, there are a hundred anonymous heroes, some of them greater. I had the fortune to be recognized and to grow old." After the war he immigrated to the United States, working in various media. Returning to Europe in 1955, he became a producer for Radio Free Europe. In the late 1970's he went to work as a director for Tennessee-based energy company Barnwell Industries. He later convinced the company to move their operations to Hawaii, where it became a major gas and oil developer. In his biography, "In Pursuit of Life", Erik Hazelhoff-Roelfzema commented, "I accept death as I accept life, because there is no choice. He who acknowledges one, can not reject the other. Life didn't scare me, as soon as I knew it worked. For the same reason I do not fear the Dark Prince. I respect his grim task and have to admit: he has put up with a lot from me." Flowers. See more Hazelhoff-Roelfzema memorials in: How famous was Erik Hazelhoff-Roelfzema? 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