During the Second World War, Peter Tazelaar played an important role in the resistance as an England sailor, spy and adjutant. His character was the model for James Bond, the world-famous creation of the English writer and Naval intelligence officer Ian Fleming. He died in 1993 in Hindeloopen.
Peter Tazelaar was born on May 5, 1920 in Fort de Kock (Dutch East Indies) and was the son of a high-ranking official. He came to the Netherlands in 1938 to become a naval officer. But the training at the Royal Naval Institute (KIM) was not for him. His study results were - according to a later statement by a classmate - 'abominably bad', but he was known as a 'good comrade'.
Tazelaar opted for merchant shipping. After the German invasion he fought in Zeeland and became a member of a resistance group. He managed to reach Great Britain with a Swiss ship. On board he met student Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema from Leiden. Together with other England sailors, they formed the core of 'Contact Holland' in London, an operation of the British secret service MI6. This service dropped secret agents in the Netherlands in order to set up a spy network and to coordinate the resistance.
In the autumn of 1944, Tazelaar was parachuted into Friesland to take care of the armament of the Interior Forces. Tazelaar had to find out which areas were suitable for weapon drops and taught the Frisian resistance how to use the latest weapons. He maintained radio contact between the resistance in Friesland and the Allies. He passed on what the resistance needed in terms of facilities, such as weapons and ammunition. For this he got the locations of the weapon drops. Tazelaar spent some time in the vicinity of It Heidenskip and Gaastmeer. A statue in memory of Peter Tazelaar has been placed on the museum square in Hindeloopen, where he spent the last years of his life.
