Some scuffing to the front cover

Interesting autobiography of Erik Hazelhoff , and his fellow students at Leiden University during the time of the German invasion.

The student friends are divided by the course of the war, representing a micro-history of The Netherlands itself. Hazelhoff was firmly opposed to the occupation and got close to the Resistance, was arrested but feigned craziness and got released. Hazelhoff managed to get on board a merchant ship leaving The Netherlands and eventually reached Britain. Worked with the Dutch government in exile to aid the Resistance,including secret landings on the Dutch coast, then he served with the RAF on bombing missions: Finally Hazelhoff joined Queen Wilhelmina in returning to a liberated Netherlands as her A.D.C.

The book tackles the theme of betrayal, collaboration and resistance,and Hazelhoff was harsh in his criticism concerning the faction fighting within the Dutch government in London, though he was fiercely loyal to Queen Wilhelmina .He seemed to find little romance in exile. His accounts of the bombing raids over Germany appeared to strangely detached. It was possible that he could feel nothing towards the people he was bombing,after being aware of the high casualty rates amongst the Dutch agents who returned to the Occupied Netherlands.

In the days after liberation, he detailed the tensions between those who managed to escape from the Occupation, and those who could not. Hazelhoff said virtually nothing about the controversial treatment of alleged collaborators in The Netherlands at this time.

The book has inspired the film Paul Verhoeven's 1977 film 'Soldaat van Oranje' , featuring Rutger Hauer as one 'Eric Landshoff' , modelled on Hazelhoff and an English subtitled version was known as 'Survival Run' . Currently 'Soldaat van Oranje' is also a popular musical in The Netherlands, which draws on both the book and film.