Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema (1917–2007), famously known as the “Soldier of Orange,” was one of the Netherlands’ most celebrated World War II resistance fighters, aviators, and authors.

Born in Java, Indonesia, Hazelhoff was studying law at Leiden University when Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands in 1940. He quickly became involved in the resistance, helping author the anti-fascist Leiden Manifesto before escaping to Britain in 1941.

There, he worked with British intelligence in Operation Contact Holland, carrying out 15 clandestine missions to Nazi-occupied Netherlands. Agents were landed secretly on the Dutch coast, sometimes with Hazelhoff arriving in the unlikely attire of a formal tuxedo.

His war continued in the air. Hazelhoff joined the Royal Air Force as a Pathfinder pilot, flying 72 dangerous combat missions, including 25 over Berlin, in de Havilland Mosquito bombers. He was awarded the Military William Order, the Netherlands’ highest military decoration, and later served as personal aide-de-camp to Queen Wilhelmina during the liberation of the Netherlands.

In 1971, while living in Hawaii, Hazelhoff published his bestselling memoir, Soldaat van Oranje. His extraordinary wartime story later inspired Paul Verhoeven’s acclaimed 1977 film and the hugely successful stage musical that became the longest-running theatrical production in Dutch history.

Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema died in 2007 at the age of 90, leaving behind one of the most enduring stories of courage, resistance, and adventure in modern Dutch history.

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