Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema   [1917-2007]

 

Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema passed away in Hawaii on September 26, 2007 at the advanced age of 90. He was undoubtedly the best known of the Dutch Second World War heroes, and by most measures probably the greatest. He had lived in the United States since the 1950’s, and in 1973 he moved to Hawaii for semi retirement and to do free lance writing. He then had already completed his best known book, “De Soldaat van Oranje”. The book was later translated and named “The Soldier of Orange”. Both the Dutch and the English versions were published in the early 1970’s. The book became an international best seller, largely because of the enormous interest for the book in his native country, where it sold well over a million copies. In 1977, the book was made into a movie by the same name. It was directed by the Dutch American director Paul Verhoeven, and starred the well known Dutch actor Rutger Hauer.

Roelfzema was a law student at the University of Leiden prior to the Second World War. When the Nazis invaded the Netherlands on May 10, 1940, Roelfzema was able to board a Swiss freighter bound for New York City. When a British cruiser intercepted the freighter, Roelfzema was able to convince the British captain of the cruiser to take him to England. Upon arrival in England, he immediately volunteered for service in the Dutch Armed Services, remnants of which had made it to England. Probably because of his advanced educational background, he was assigned to the Dutch section of M16, the British intelligence service.

In the intelligence service he was soon assigned to assist in supply missions to the Dutch Resistance, operating under cover to avoid Nazi capture. Roelfzema made 15 missions to deliver radio equipment, spies and light arms to the beaches along the Dutch west coast bordering on the North Sea. The deliveries were made with the help of a British gunboat which would let a dinghy off near the coast, and wait for the dinghy’s return. The deliveries were made by the dinghy to the beach, and the dinghy would then return to the waiting gunboat. The dinghy was under the command of Roelfzema, supported by one or more Dutch crew members. On a number of missions, the Nazis became aware of the infiltrations, and the escapes by dinghy to the gunboat were narrow escapes.

In 1942, Roelfzema became involved in a dispute over policy with the head of the Dutch intelligence section of the M16 British intelligence agency, Colonel De Bruyne. The dispute apparently became quite heated, and Colonel De Bruyne even threatened Roelfzema with a court martial. But De Bruyne was not aware that Roelfzema, around that time, had been recommended for the highest Dutch military award, the Militaire Willemsorde, the Militairy Order of William. So in the summer of 1942, Queen Wilhelmina, who was then living in exile in London, England, bestowed the order on Roelfzema. Needless to say no mention was ever made about a court martial.

Following the confrontation with De Bruyne, Roelfzema apparently decided to follow a different path in contributing to the war. He decided to become an air force pilot and joined the British Royal Air Force. He received his pilot training in a De Havilland Mosquito, one of the fastest planes then flying. The plane was used for, among other things, identifying targets in enemy territory by firing flares at the targets. The bombers that followed would then not have to search for the targets but could deliver their loads quickly and get out of the most dangerous zones. The speed of the Mosquito apparently made it difficult to shoot down, and Roelfzema completed 72 successful flights including 25 flights over Berlin.

Near the end of the war, in April 1945, Roelfzema was appointed aide-de-camp to Queen Wilhelmina, and accompanied her where ever she went, including, of course, her triumphant return to her home in the Netherlands in May 1945. During her tour to the various places in the Netherlands the Queen visited, she would ride in a relatively modest open vehicle. The Queen insisted on sitting in the front seat next to the driver, and Roelfzema would ride in the back seat. The arrangement made a lot of sense because the back seat gave Roelfzema a better view of the crowd, and he was thus in a better position to protect the Queen, in case of an incident.

Following the war, the Netherlands was not a pleasant place. The country had been robbed into poverty by the Nazis, and much of its infrastructure had been destroyed. So many people despaired, and decided to emigrate to “greener pastures”. In 1950, Roelfzema was one of the emigrants and moved to the United States. He knew the United States well, because in the late 1930’s, he had made a solo trip to the United States, crisscrossing the country. He even wrote a book on his exploits, entitled “Rendezvous in San Francisco”, published in 1939. Following his arrival in the United States, he became a writer for NBC’s Today Show and NBC’s Tonight Show. Later he also wrote for Radio Free Europe and for a while was stationed in Munich, Germany.

Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema was born in Surabaya, Indonesia on April 3, 1917. At the time of his birth, Indonesia was a Dutch colony that was commonly known as the Dutch East Indies. His father was a coffee plantation manager there. Not much is known about his childhood. We do know that he returned to the Netherlands in the 1930’s, or perhaps earlier, to study. He was a law student at the University of Leiden in the mid thirties, but it is also not known if he completed his law studies. In 1973, he moved to Hawaii, and probably continued his writing because a book, his second autobiography, entitled “In Pursuit of Life”, was published in 2000. He also wrote extensively for Dutch newspapers during his stay in Hawaii. He also was appointed to the board of Barnwell Industries, an oil and gas well exploration company.

Roelfzema passed away on September 6, 2007. He left behind his wife, his son Erik Hazelhoff, Jr., a daughter, Karna Hazelhoff-Castellon, a granddaughter and a great grand daughter.  

 

REFERENCES

Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema, Netherlands WWII Hero, 90

Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article2562741.ece

Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema, http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/obituaries.cfm?id=1609672007

 

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