a few ideas to pass the time as you observe the goings on from your canalside hideout
Safe House Suggestions
De donkere kamer van Damokles (The Darkroom of Damocles) - Willem Frederik Hermans
A tense tale of wartime resistance, accusations of collaboration and a mysterious doppelganger. The author of this highly successful novel (and film) believed John Le Carré had drawn on it as inspiration for The Spy Who Came In From The Cold (part of which is set in the Hague, so could also be on the list...).
Tamar: Love, Espionage and Betrayal - Mal Peet
One aimed at the young adult market, this Carnegie Medal-winning novel tells the story of a young girl who inherits some intriguing papers from her grandfather. Her investigations lead her to the activities of two wartime SOE agents...
Testimony - Scott Turow
This contemporary thriller revolves around the International Criminal Court in the Hague, as American lawyer Bill Ten Boom investigates a massacre in Bosnia, where all is not as it seems at first.
Or if you prefer a film...
Zwartboek (The Black Book) - Sony Pictures
Dutch director Paul Verhoeven's story of a young Jewish singer who joins a resistance group in the Hague in the later stages of the Second World War. Her role sees her secure a job working undercover at the offices of the Sicherheitsdienst (the intelligence arm of the SS), with unforeseen consequences and numerous plot twists. While not a true story, Verhoeven said that many of the events depicted in the film are true.
For those seeking further inspiration, we recommend checking out Spybrary
Key Locations
Hotel Des Indes, Lange Voorhout 54-56, The Hague
A genuinely grand 19th-century hotel in one of the city's most pleasant areas. Built in 1858 as the town palace of Baron van Brienen, it has been a hotel since 1881. With its soaring central lounge, chandeliers, marble, palms, and a discreet, faintly theatrical - you understand within thirty seconds why the diplomatic quarter chose this as its drawing room. It's very easy to imagine Mata Hari, who lived close by, drifting amongst the hotel's well heeled clientele.
Hotel Wilhelmina, Kaldenkerkerweg 1, Venlo
This modest 19th-century hostelry may not be able to match the grandeur of the Des Indes, but a stone's throw from the town's railway station, it's a perfect staging post for those planning a run up to the border. We fortified ourselves with some excellent seasonal asparagus soup before following in the footsteps of the MI6 officers who fell into a German trap a few kilometres away.
Nationaal Monument Oranjehotel, Van Alkemadelaan 1258, Scheveningen
Ironically named the Oranjehotel, this fascinating museum was a working prison until 2009. Opened as a commemorative centre in 2019, it now tells the moving stories of those who were imprisoned here during the German occupation. It held captured resistance members, SOE agents, as well as many others including Jews, political prisoners and black marketeers. Over 250 of 25,000 who passed through its gates were taken from the prison to their executions on the nearby Waalsdorpervlakte - marked by a memorial. You can still see one of the condemned cells, Cell 601, at the heart of the complex.
Paviljoen Malieveld, Koekamplaan 6, The Hague
Serving its delicious pancakes and waffles in this location since 1941, when it was relocated from the Scheveningen seafront to make way for Hitler's Atlantic Wall coastal defences, this probably isn't where you'd expect spies to hang out. But perhaps that's the point. During the Cold War, we have it on good authority that its booths – now sadly gone – would be used for discreet meetings by eastern Bloc intelligence officers, under the watchful eyes of the local security services.
Some suggested spots to duck into to check plans or lose a tail...
SOME SUGGESTED SPOTS TO DUCK INTO TO CHECK PLANS OR LOSE A TAIL
Pre-Mission Briefing
A SELECTION OF RECOMMENDED READING TO PREPARE FOR YOUR MISSION
The Venlo Sting: MI6's Deadly Fiasco - Norman Ridley
Drawing on official papers and other documentation, Ridley investigates how the British, in their keenness to make contact with opponents of Hitler, instead delivered a major propaganda victory to their foes. Two senior MI6 officers kidnapped, a Dutch officer killed, and British intelligence networks in the Netherlands and beyond in the early days of the War. The story of a veritable intelligence disaster.
The Venlo Incident: A True Story of Double-Dealing, Captivity, and a Murderous Nazi Plot - Captain S. Payne Best
One of the captured intelligence officers tells his own story in this dramatic account. Covering the run up to, and the kidnapping itself, the bulk of this memoir tells the fascinating story of how Payne Best survived the rest of the War in German captivity.
Mission Europe: The Secret History of the Women of SOE - Kate Vigurs
In this work that covers the work of the Special Operations Executive across occupied Europe, Vigurs devotes a chapter to the story of SOE agent Trix Terwindt. One of the first KLM air hostesses in the pre-war period, she had escaped to England and joined the SOE, only to parachute into the hands of the Germans as a result of the Englandspiel double cross deception. She was one of the few to survive the war - 54 of her colleagues were killed.
London Calling North Pole: The True Revelations of a German Spy - H.J. Giskes
The Englandspiel story from the point of view of the Germans. Hermann Giskes, an officer in the Abwehr (military intelligence) was at the heart of Operation NordPol. His memoir tells how the Germans sustained this deception and lured agent after agent to their capture.
Between Silk and Cyanide: A Code Maker's War, 1941-45 - Leo Marks
The memoir of a brilliant young SOE in-house cryptographer. Marks, whose suspicions were roused by the lack of mistakes in the messages being received from the Netherlands, gives a British view on the Englandspiel.