Synopsis
Soldaat van Oranje
Up until the day German troops invade the Netherlands in May 1940, Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema and his friends lead ordinary, untroubled lives as students at Leiden University. Suddenly, they face choices that will change their lives forever. Friendship, love and everything they value is put to a punishing test. Will they fight for freedom,
Queen and country? Or will they look away, maybe even join the enemy?
Soldier Of Orange is based on the true story of one of the greatest Dutch resistance fighters in WWII, Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema. Having escaped to England at the start of the war, he smuggled radio transmitters into the Netherlands for the resistance group Contact Holland. In 1942 he trained as a RAF-pilot, eventually taking part in bombing runs over Germany. After becoming the personal aide to Queen Wilhelmina, he was awarded the highest Dutch military honour for his work in the resistance.
Set between August 1939 and May 1945, the story follows the lives of Erik Hazelhoff Roelzema, his group of friends and Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands.
foto: annemieke van der togt
ERIK HAZELHOFF ROELFZEMA
a strong, charming, independent law-student with ambitions of becoming a writer.
ANTON ROVER
strict and temperamental, with an aggressive, dark side to his nature. His father and German mother are members of the National Socialist Movement (NSB).
BRAM GOUDSMIT
a Jewish student with strong opinions who loves to express himself through dance.
CHRIS DE VRIES
likeable, funny and unconditionally loyal to his friends.
PAUL TEN BRINK
a serious, bookish and introverted young academic. After his brother died in Battle of the Grebbeberg, he is determined to take care of his widowed mother. He is Charlotte’s boyfriend.
VICTOR VERSTEGEN
a serious ambitious student. Determined to graduate, he keeps out of trouble. His goal is to become a diplomat and he proves to be well-suited for that role. He has a strong belief in God.
FRED VAN HOUTEN
Fraternity President and being one year ahead, senior to the other boys. A rather urbane young man, he is great at leading the fraternity, but secretly fears proving unworthy and being revealed as a fraud.
CHARLOTTE
an intelligent, brave, young woman who joins the resistance. She is Paul’s girlfriend.
ADA
an outgoing fun-loving flirt.
ACT 1
SCENE 1 | OVERTURE
foto: annemieke van der togt
SCENE 2 | FRATERNITY INITIATION
Introduction of the main characters Erik Hazelhoff and his friends Chris and Victor. Their heads are shaved aspart of their fraternity hazing. Erik is challenged by fraternity President Fred. Erik however stands firm, sticking to his principles.
Het Wilhelmus (Dutch National Anthem)
Get In Or Get Out
A Matter Of Time
SCENE 3 | SIX MONTHS LATER, A MATTER OF TIME
At fraternity house Rapenburg the friends prepare for a party at the student fraternity hall Minerva.
Bram reads the news about Hitler and the treatment of Jews in Germany.
A Matter of Time/Tomorrow Is Today
SCENE 4 | WHO WILL STOP ME
At Minerva, the fraternity party is in full swing; there’s music, dancing and singing in celebration of Fred’s graduation. Erik meets the beautiful but aloof Charlotte and tries to catch her attention. Ada and Anton are swept up by a mutual attraction. The party is interrupted by Bram asking his fellow students how they can celebrate when Jews are being murdered in Germany. Anton and Bram get into an argument that Fred puts an end to. The festivities resume until a radio is switched on. Queen Wilhelmina announces the unthinkable: the Netherlands have been invaded by the Nazis. War suddenly has become the new reality.
Nothing’s Gonna Stop Me
Chaos
SCENE 5 | DAY ONE
Erik, Chris, Fred and Bram have gone straight from the fraternity party to the barracks to enlist.
There they meet Queen Wilhelmina for the first time.
SCENE 6 | DAY TWO AND THREE
Back at Rapenburg, on the second day of the invasion, Paul learns of the death of his brother in the Battle of the Grebbeberg. Anton’s parents are arrested because of his mother’s German origins. Erik and Anton get into a fight when Erik accuses Anton’s parents of collaboration with the Nazis.
Goodbye
SCENE 7 | I REFUSE TO LEAVE
At the Royal Palace, preparations are made for the Queen to escape to England. Queen Wilhelimina’s personal secretary Van ’t Sant insists she cannot remain in the Netherlands only to be captured by Hitler’s Wehrmacht. Initially, the Queen refuses to leave her country, but when the Germans proceed to bomb Rotterdam she accepts the inevitable.
SCENE 8 | THE CLOUD IN THE DISTANCE
On the beach, Erik and his friends watch as bombs rain down on Rotterdam, obliterating the city. On the fifth day of war, the Netherlands surrender to their German invader. Erik gets increasingly infuriated when told their Queen
has fled the country. The friends decide to fight the enemy.
Strawberry Sundae Cloud
SCENE 8A | SS INAUGURATION ANTON
Anton is inaugurated at the Dutch SS.
SCENE 9 | STRATEGY
At Rapenburg the friends discuss various escape options from the Netherlands to join the war effort in England. The decision is made to cross the North Sea in Fred’s father’s rowing boat. Although Erik and Paul aren’t keen for a woman to join them, Charlotte insists on coming too.
SCENE 10 | ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE
Though Scheveningen beach proves to be heavily guarded by Germans, the friends attempt to make their way to England by boat. Their plan fails.
SCENE 10A | ANTON AND ADA
Anton introduces Ada to her new workspace at the SS offices.
SCENE 11 | TEA
The Queen, now in exile in London, is frustrated. Having received no news of the current situation in the Netherlands, she worries Hitler will cross the Channel and attack the UK. She demands Van ‘t Sant to ensure her the enemy does not take her alive. However, the British seemingly face each challenge with a cup of tea…
SCENE 12 | NO JEWS ALLOWED
Meanwhile, back in the Netherlands, the full horror of Nazi occupation becomes apparent with the arrest of Jews. The Nazis expect all students in Leiden to sign a declaration of non-Jewish ancestry. There’s No One Here But Us
SCENE 13 | TRANSMITTER
Paul helps Fred and Bram by offering them an illegal transmitter he has made himself to contact London with. The “Leiden Manifest”, Erik’s declaration of the students of Leiden’s refusal to subject to German rule, incites their occupier to a witch-hunt to find its author. Anton brutally interrogates a Dutch student, demanding the name of the Leiden Manifest’s author. Eventually, the student admits they are at Rapenburg. The Nazis discover the transmitter while searching for the Leiden Manifest and arrest Erik and Bram. Fred manages to escape. Charlotte and Paul fight about Charlotte’s involvement with the resistance and Paul wanting to go to his mother before curfew. Charlotte decides to break up with Paul.
SCENE 14 | BRAM’S DEATH
At the SS office Anton interrogates Bram and Erik. Erik is shocked to discover that his old friend has joined enemy ranks. Anton tells Erik that all the resistance’s efforts will prove fruitless. He even brazenly claims Van ‘t Sant is a German spy.
Anton threatens to have Bram executed if Erik doesn’t name the third person who was present in Bram’s room. Erik pleads to spare Bram, reminding Anton of their friendship. Anton however refuses to relent and orders Bram’s
execution.
Freedom
Bram’s Ballet
SCENE 15 | FALL FOREVER
Erik makes his way to Charlotte’s apartment. She lets him in. When telling her he must escape the Netherlands, Erik learns that Charlotte is already deeply involved with the resistance. She offers him a gun, a false identity and an escape to England by ship. They comfort each other by sharing the remaining hours of the night.
Fall Forever
SCENE 16 | BETRAYAL
Paul is arrested by two German soldiers and brought into Anton’s office. Anton interrogates Paul about the radio transmitter that was seized in Bram’s room. Aware that Paul made the radio transmitter, Anton pressures him to cooperate, should he ever want to see his mother again.
SCENE 17 | ENGELANDVAARDERS
At the docks where the St.Cergue waits for its departure, Charlotte and Erik say goodbye.
Erik discovers Fred has somehow made it on board as well.
All On My Way To You
Charlotte’s Goodbye
Tomorrow Is Today
Act 2
SCENE 18 | ERIK’S NIGHTMARE
On arrival in England, Erik and Fred are arrested and brought to the Royal Patriotic School. In the morning Van ‘t Sant, now head of the Dutch Central Intelligence Service, wakes Erik for questioning. Is Van ’t Sant all he appears to be?
SCENE 19 | YOU DON’T SAY NO TO A QUEEN
Erik and Fred are reunited with Chris, who travelled to London via Alaska. As they are about to be presented to the Queen, Wilhelmina’s lady-in-waiting Tessa instructs them how to behave in the presence of the Queen. Visibly distracted, Chris takes a special interest in Tessa. At the meeting, Erik, Fred and Chris inform Queen Wilhelmina about the current situation in the Netherlands. With her involvement, they devise a plan to build a contact network smuggling transmitters across the North Sea from England to the Netherlands: “Contact Holland” is born.
You Can’t Say No To A Queen
SCENE 20 | THE SHOOTING RANGE
At the English barracks, showing off his shooting skills proving he’s the most adept, Fred announces he wants to return to the Netherlands. Erik feels Fred masks his fears with Dutch courage.
Blind Faith
SCENE 21A | NIGHT SCENE/ FAREWELL
Come Back To Me
SCENE 21B | FAREWELL
When Erik arrives at the palace to say farewell to the Queen, Van ’t Sant won’t let him in to see her. Erik accuses Van ’t Sant of being a traitor but lacks the proof to back up his claim. Van ‘t Sant tells Erik to leave. Queen Wilhelmina regrets not having had the chance to wish Erik a safe journey before his departure.
Come Back To Me
SCENE 22 | KURHAUS
While Ada performs a song during a Nazi party at the Kurhaus, Erik and Fred row ashore with a radio transmitter. Charlotte waits for them on the beach as Anton, now in full SS uniform, appears and recognizes Erik. In a tense confrontation, Anton defends the morality of his decision to follow Hitler and Erik sneers at him for doing so.
Hoch das Glass (Raise the Glass)
Morality
SCENE 23 | CHARLOTTE IS ARRESTED
Charlotte’s involvement with “Contact Holland” comes to an end when Paul betrays her to the Nazis. She is arrested and brought to the SS office.
Anton tries to persuade Charlotte, offering her a last chance to join him and the Nazis. When she rejects him, he orders Ada to deport Charlotte to concentration camp Buchenwald. Ada realizes her choice to follow Anton was a mistake and now there is no way back. Meanwhile at Rapenburg, Fred is shocked to find Paul in Charlotte’s room. Paul tells him England has been informed that he has taken over Charlotte’s tasks.
No Way Back
SCENE 24 | THE MEDAL
For their bravery in serving their country, Erik and his friends receive the Militaire Willems-Orde, the highest military honour. Both Erik and Charlotte long to be reunited. However, Erik is unaware of Charlotte’s fate.
All On My Way To You
SCENE 25 | THE DAY OF RECKONING
Van ’t Sant informs Erik that a traitor has infiltrated Contact Holland. To get proof, Erik sends a test question via morse code that can only be answered by Charlotte. Paul is working the radio when receiving this test question. Entering the room, Fred realises his friend is a spy and eliminates him. In a desperate escape from the Nazis, Fred is hit by a fatal bullet.
SCENE 26 | CHARLOTTE’S GOODBYE
In her cell at Buchenwald, an emaciated and defeated Charlotte lies down and prepares for death to take her.
Charlotte’s Goodbye
SCENE 27 | ERIK’S FAREWELL
Van ’t Sant tells Queen Wilhelmina that Contact Holland has ceased to exist. All resistance members have been captured and shot and all transmitters are confiscated. On hearing the news about Charlotte, Queen Wilhelmina comforts a devastated Erik. Erik tells the Queen he wants to join the RAF with Chris to become a pilot and avenge his lost friends.
Isolation
SCENE 28 | BOMBS ON BERLIN
In a hair-raising bombing mission, Erik and Chris get caught more than once in the searchlights and crosshairs of an enemy fighter plane.
SCENE 29 | BACK ON HOME GROUND
Following the D-Day invasion, the Netherlands are liberated and Queen Wilhelmina returns home with Erik and Chris as her personal aides. Upon their return, Erik discovers Victor has sat out the whole war as a bureaucrat.
foto: annemieke van der togt
SCENE 30 | THE GRAND FINALE
After their awkward meeting, Erik walks through the scenes to pay his respect to Bram in the dunes
where he was executed.
Theme Soldier of Orange – Rogier van Otterloo
Het Wilhelmus – the Dutch National Anthem
SCENE 31 | ANNEVILLE
Amid the celebrations, Wilhelmina asks Erik to tell her if she has failed the country. He tells the truth.
She expresses her hope for Erik to remain her personal aide for the rest of her life. Erik admits he has other dreams he wishes to pursue.
The Freedom Waltz
SCENE 32 | ADA SHAVED
Erik finds Ada with her head shaven, being beaten up and called a Nazi slut. As they part ways, Ada remembers the promise she made to Charlotte. She tells Erik how Charlotte loves him dearly.
SCENE 33 | THERE’S NO ONE HERE BUT US
Back at the university, Erik is joined in spirit by his friends.
There’s No One Here But Us (Reprise)
THE END
