The Tribesman
The turbulent life of Hague writer Alexander Münninghoff now on TV
Bestseller 'De Stamhouder' by Hague journalist and writer Alexander Münninghoff, who died in 2020, has been adapted into an eight-part international television series to be shown on NPO1 from 1 January. Casper Postmaa visited the filming in Poland for BOIDR.

DATE
22 December 2022
TEXT
Casper Postmaa
IMAGE
Private archive and PR
The Tribesman
The turbulent life of Hague writer Alexander Münninghoff now on TV
Bestseller 'De Stamhouder' by Hague journalist and writer Alexander Münninghoff, who died in 2020, has been adapted into an eight-part international television series to be shown on NPO1 from 1 January. Casper Postmaa visited the filming in Poland for BOIDR.
Mhe mild view with regard to decadence could be said to be an ordinary New Year's Eve party. The gentlemen black tie, the ladies in evening gowns, on the steps the champagne glasses and jewels tinkle merrily and after each bang a flower of fire appears in the sky. So what is so special about this party where we are guests on the sidelines?
Gorgeous sugar cake
Let's start with the magnificent sugar cake in which the chosen few spin their laps on the dance floor to jaunty fin-de-siècle music. Who are they and why here? To solve this riddle, we only have to take a few steps back, because behind us cameras are ready, stage-hands are running around like mad to arrange the final details behind the scenes. We wait for yet another command from director Diederik van Rooijen: the next scene, or this one again.

Alexander and his grandfather Joan in the garden of their villa in Voorburg. This picture was used for the cover of 'De Stamhouder'. Photo: Münninghoff family collection.
We have landed in an eighteenth-century palace in Borowa, a village in Polish Silesia. The year is 1938. And actually, even that is not the whole truth, because Borowa may be in Poland, but in the make-believe reality that surrounds us this evening, the Silesian village stands for a suburb of Latvian Riga.
Joan Münninghoff
There, Joan Münninghoff (Gijs Scholten van Aschat) built villa Von Lomani before World War II, a luxurious residence where he lived like a tycoon with his own swimming pool and tennis court, at the time an extravagance still reserved for film stars.
The €10 million budget is impressive for a Dutch production
Until his death on 28 April 2020, Joan's grandson Alexander was my friend, the one who towards the end of his life wrote the bestseller 'De Stamhouder', a family biography in which grandfather Joan is the evil genius. Alexander still experienced that success, but the filming of his book for an eight-part TV series by AVROTROS eluded him with his life. Everything that takes place in the film and the book is now truly a thing of the past.

Casper Postmaa interviews Alexander Münninghoff in 2015 at the Royal Theatre about his book 'De Stamhouder'. Photo: Münninghoff family collection
Originally, the series was supposed to be seen as early as this year, instead of autumn 2022, but corona shut down all the cogwheels here too, putting the creativity of production planners and screenwriter Rik D'hiet to quite a test.
Great Gatsby-style megaparty
The New Year's Eve party was not in the original script; that assumed shooting days in January with a crop of spectacular footage of protagonists ploughing across the Polish plains through snowstorms, but come to think of it in early September when the trees are still in full leaf. Then fireworks, a Great Gatsby-esque megaparty and an ominous annual are an ingenious way out to serve as a prelude to the drama that would later grab Europe's throat.
![]() | Read also: The Hague's best tips from the editors: Meike Liedenbaum Herring bites and tarts from Foam |
Alexander's grandfather is still at the height of his power. In Latvia, he owns a trading house, ships, a port and factories, AND he has the prime minister of the Baltic state in his pocket. Rarely has a Dutch story based on true events highlighted such an enigmatic figure as this dark fortune hunter, arms dealer, schemer and double agent whose files the AIVD still won't release.

How relations in the family were, Diederik van Rooijen knows first-hand.
How relations in the family were, Diederik van Rooijen knows first-hand. He consulted Alexander Münninghoff several times at Walong restaurant in The Hague. "Those were important conversations; after all, you are filming someone's life. He is the progenitor, so you want him to look on from heaven and like it. And that will work. What we have shot so far is beautiful, and I don't often say that about my own work. People who have been watching from behind the monitor have been heavily impressed."
'He ís the progenitor, then you want him to look on from heaven and like it
To get to that result, neither cost nor effort were spared. The budget of ten million euros is impressive for a Dutch production, yet concessions were necessary. According to location manager Niko Post, the costs would have been three times higher if the screenplay had followed the book entirely. Illustrations of (financial) highlights abound.
Indoor pool
The indoor swimming pool at the Borowa estate has been converted into a stable complex, as horses played an important role in the Latvian period of the story. Alexander's father Frans (Robert de Hoog) regularly went out riding with his friends from Latvia's elite, including in the film. Two are needed for every horse in action, which means a regiment of 40 horses has to take part on those filming days. Tanks thunder through the picture and car enthusiasts can marvel at a rare example of the exclusive British car brand Armstrong Siddeley, favourite of James Bond author Ian Fleming, among others. Frans also whizzed through the streets of The Hague with it in his good years.
'It's a bizarre experience, as if I'm watching my own history'
And everywhere has been remodelled and refurbished to transform the Polish mansion's interior into an eclectic ensemble that fits the time image of Latvia in the 1930s. "It should look natural, but at the back a complicated clockwork has been put together," Niko Post explains. Not everything always works out. "With every film, there is a moment that gives you a heartache. In this production, the locomotive we needed was the absolute low point.
Polish Railways
Twice spent a lot of money to find a steam locomotive - 3e class wagons had to be converted into 1ste class - and twice the Polish Railways disapproved the thing, as they had to be able to run on existing track. We eventually found another old Bundesbahn locomotive far away in Poland that we were able to bring to our site at the cost of a fortune."
![]() | Read also: Everything you need to know about champagne Champagne was not sparkling at all until the 18th century! |
Each country has its own problems, he knows from experience. "In Thailand, all images have to pass the censor, while in Indonesia it is unexpectedly easy: as long as you pay, everything works. Some banknotes and the police immediately cordon off the street in front of you."
'A schemer and double agent whose files the AIVD still won't release'
Other threats only just passed them by. Key characters, such as French and Alexander, make appearances on the set in different ages. Also as children. "When you know that between shooting day 40 and 41 - by corona - there were eight months," says Diederik van Rooijen, "it's exciting, because some children are just in a growth spurt then and can suddenly look different. Fortunately, we were spared that."
Michiel Münninghoff
Some young actors are in the picture so briefly that they cannot oversee the whole thing, discovers Michiel Münninghoff, who is in Borowa as a guest with his mother Ellen, his younger brother Maurits and his sister Tessa.
"Who do you do in the series," he asks a boy about 14 years old.
"I don't know exactly, I just say a few sentences."
"But who are you playing?"
"French."
"But then you are my grandfather!"
Each of them experiences the spectacle differently. Tessa is especially amazed by the scale and allure of the operation, Michiel and Maurits are proud of the way their father's legacy is taking shape. "It is a bizarre experience," explains Maurits, "after all, a piece of your life is being staged. As if I am watching my own history."
Sally Harmsen
Ellen, played by Sally Harmsen, looks fragile when confronted with the family past. She praises the effort and perfection with which the crew works, but she cannot manage to accept 'The Tribesman' as history already. "I find it so horrible that I am sitting here. Alexander should have been here, I'm just the wife of. He would have loved it SO much."

Alexander (Matthijs van de Sande Bakhuyzen) with his lover, Ellen (Sally Harmsen). Photo: Dinand van der Wal
She cites an anecdote indicating that Alexander easily dealt with the screenplay's own colouring of the main characters' lives at times. In the film, to impress his future wife, Wera, Frans mounts the steps of Villa Lomani on horseback. A detail from the family history that was completely unfamiliar to Alexander. "No matter, we'll keep that in!"
James Bond
Also present on the set of 'The Tribesman' is one Krzysztof Jabłonowski. A guest who would have fitted perfectly into grandfather Joan Münninghoff's entourage. He is rumoured to be an arms dealer. When it turns out that everyone ignores him, he tells me his story. "This is one of my many houses, some are even bigger than Palac Borowa," he says with a nonchalant gesture.

6 Alexander Münninghoff during his stay in Greece in the 1960s when he worked as a courier for the resistance against the Papadopoulos colonial regime. Photo: Münninghoff family collection
He makes his money trading diamonds in Antwerp and Monte Carlo. Did I know that a James Bond film was also shot in his palace? No, though there was fuss about his meddling in a gold mine in Cameroon and business in Borowa was also rather unorthodox. A few years ago, he evicted a tenant from the property converted into a hotel after only a few weeks. With the help of an armed thugs, says the aggrieved party.
Diamond trade
After a few more futile attempts to shake hands, Jabłonowski drips off. From his black Mercedes, he calls after me through the open window that he is not very fond of 007. Understandable: African gold, bribes, diamond trading, tough guys, Bond would know what to do with them.

Fireworks herald the year 1938 on the set in Borowa. In the film, the villa is the mansion that grandfather Joan Münninghoff had built in Riga before World War II. Photo: BOIDR
The interlude eluded the crew of 'The Tribesman' - at the height of the party, two hundred people were engaged. Not much later, the smoke from the fireworks has cleared, the new year has arrived. The wait is for the early morning when Frans will appear on horseback on the steps. Spectacular, larger than life, but too late for the regulars.
AVROTROS will broadcast The Stamholder on NPO 1 from 1 January.
text Casper Postmaa image Private archive and PR
Mhe mild view with regard to decadence could be said to be an ordinary New Year's Eve party. The gentlemen black tie, the ladies in evening gowns, on the steps the champagne glasses and jewels tinkle merrily and after each bang a flower of fire appears in the sky. So what is so special about this party where we are guests on the sidelines?
Gorgeous sugar cake
Let's start with the magnificent sugar cake in which the chosen few spin their laps on the dance floor to jaunty fin-de-siècle music. Who are they and why here? To solve this riddle, we only have to take a few steps back, because behind us cameras are ready, stage-hands are running around like mad to arrange the final details behind the scenes. We wait for yet another command from director Diederik van Rooijen: the next scene, or this one again.

Alexander and his grandfather Joan in the garden of their villa in Voorburg. This picture was used for the cover of 'De Stamhouder'. Photo: Münninghoff family collection.
We have landed in an eighteenth-century palace in Borowa, a village in Polish Silesia. The year is 1938. And actually, even that is not the whole truth, because Borowa may be in Poland, but in the make-believe reality that surrounds us this evening, the Silesian village stands for a suburb of Latvian Riga.
Joan Münninghoff
There, Joan Münninghoff (Gijs Scholten van Aschat) built villa Von Lomani before World War II, a luxurious residence where he lived like a tycoon with his own swimming pool and tennis court, at the time an extravagance still reserved for film stars.
The €10 million budget is impressive for a Dutch production
Until his death on 28 April 2020, Joan's grandson Alexander was my friend, the one who towards the end of his life wrote the bestseller 'De Stamhouder', a family biography in which grandfather Joan is the evil genius. Alexander still experienced that success, but the filming of his book for an eight-part TV series by AVROTROS eluded him with his life. Everything that takes place in the film and the book is now truly a thing of the past.

Casper Postmaa interviews Alexander Münninghoff in 2015 at the Royal Theatre about his book 'De Stamhouder'. Photo: Münninghoff family collection
Originally, the series was supposed to be seen as early as this year, instead of autumn 2022, but corona shut down all the cogwheels here too, putting the creativity of production planners and screenwriter Rik D'hiet to quite a test.
Great Gatsby-style megaparty
The New Year's Eve party was not in the original script; that assumed shooting days in January with a crop of spectacular footage of protagonists ploughing across the Polish plains through snowstorms, but come to think of it in early September when the trees are still in full leaf. Then fireworks, a Great Gatsby-esque megaparty and an ominous annual are an ingenious way out to serve as a prelude to the drama that would later grab Europe's throat.
![]() | Read also: The Hague's best tips from the editors: Meike Liedenbaum Herring bites and tarts from Foam |
Alexander's grandfather is still at the height of his power. In Latvia, he owns a trading house, ships, a port and factories, AND he has the prime minister of the Baltic state in his pocket. Rarely has a Dutch story based on true events highlighted such an enigmatic figure as this dark fortune hunter, arms dealer, schemer and double agent whose files the AIVD still won't release.

How relations in the family were, Diederik van Rooijen knows first-hand.
How relations in the family were, Diederik van Rooijen knows first-hand. He consulted Alexander Münninghoff several times at Walong restaurant in The Hague. "Those were important conversations; after all, you are filming someone's life. He is the progenitor, so you want him to look on from heaven and like it. And that will work. What we have shot so far is beautiful, and I don't often say that about my own work. People who have been watching from behind the monitor have been heavily impressed."
'He ís the progenitor, then you want him to look on from heaven and like it
To get to that result, neither cost nor effort were spared. The budget of ten million euros is impressive for a Dutch production, yet concessions were necessary. According to location manager Niko Post, the costs would have been three times higher if the screenplay had followed the book entirely. Illustrations of (financial) highlights abound.
Indoor pool
The indoor swimming pool at the Borowa estate has been converted into a stable complex, as horses played an important role in the Latvian period of the story. Alexander's father Frans (Robert de Hoog) regularly went out riding with his friends from Latvia's elite, including in the film. Two are needed for every horse in action, which means a regiment of 40 horses has to take part on those filming days. Tanks thunder through the picture and car enthusiasts can marvel at a rare example of the exclusive British car brand Armstrong Siddeley, favourite of James Bond author Ian Fleming, among others. Frans also whizzed through the streets of The Hague with it in his good years.
'It's a bizarre experience, as if I'm watching my own history'
And everywhere has been remodelled and refurbished to transform the Polish mansion's interior into an eclectic ensemble that fits the time image of Latvia in the 1930s. "It should look natural, but at the back a complicated clockwork has been put together," Niko Post explains. Not everything always works out. "With every film, there is a moment that gives you a heartache. In this production, the locomotive we needed was the absolute low point.
Polish Railways
Twice spent a lot of money to find a steam locomotive - 3e class wagons had to be converted into 1ste class - and twice the Polish Railways disapproved the thing, as they had to be able to run on existing track. We eventually found another old Bundesbahn locomotive far away in Poland that we were able to bring to our site at the cost of a fortune."
![]() | Read also: Everything you need to know about champagne Champagne was not sparkling at all until the 18th century! |
Each country has its own problems, he knows from experience. "In Thailand, all images have to pass the censor, while in Indonesia it is unexpectedly easy: as long as you pay, everything works. Some banknotes and the police immediately cordon off the street in front of you."
'A schemer and double agent whose files the AIVD still won't release'
Other threats only just passed them by. Key characters, such as French and Alexander, make appearances on the set in different ages. Also as children. "When you know that between shooting day 40 and 41 - by corona - there were eight months," says Diederik van Rooijen, "it's exciting, because some children are just in a growth spurt then and can suddenly look different. Fortunately, we were spared that."
Michiel Münninghoff
Some young actors are in the picture so briefly that they cannot oversee the whole thing, discovers Michiel Münninghoff, who is in Borowa as a guest with his mother Ellen, his younger brother Maurits and his sister Tessa.
"Who do you do in the series," he asks a boy about 14 years old.
"I don't know exactly, I just say a few sentences."
"But who are you playing?"
"French."
"But then you are my grandfather!"
Each of them experiences the spectacle differently. Tessa is especially amazed by the scale and allure of the operation, Michiel and Maurits are proud of the way their father's legacy is taking shape. "It is a bizarre experience," explains Maurits, "after all, a piece of your life is being staged. As if I am watching my own history."
Sally Harmsen
Ellen, played by Sally Harmsen, looks fragile when confronted with the family past. She praises the effort and perfection with which the crew works, but she cannot manage to accept 'The Tribesman' as history already. "I find it so horrible that I am sitting here. Alexander should have been here, I'm just the wife of. He would have loved it SO much."

Alexander (Matthijs van de Sande Bakhuyzen) with his lover, Ellen (Sally Harmsen). Photo: Dinand van der Wal
She cites an anecdote indicating that Alexander easily dealt with the screenplay's own colouring of the main characters' lives at times. In the film, to impress his future wife, Wera, Frans mounts the steps of Villa Lomani on horseback. A detail from the family history that was completely unfamiliar to Alexander. "No matter, we'll keep that in!"
James Bond
Also present on the set of 'The Tribesman' is one Krzysztof Jabłonowski. A guest who would have fitted perfectly into grandfather Joan Münninghoff's entourage. He is rumoured to be an arms dealer. When it turns out that everyone ignores him, he tells me his story. "This is one of my many houses, some are even bigger than Palac Borowa," he says with a nonchalant gesture.

6 Alexander Münninghoff during his stay in Greece in the 1960s when he worked as a courier for the resistance against the Papadopoulos colonial regime. Photo: Münninghoff family collection
He makes his money trading diamonds in Antwerp and Monte Carlo. Did I know that a James Bond film was also shot in his palace? No, though there was fuss about his meddling in a gold mine in Cameroon and business in Borowa was also rather unorthodox. A few years ago, he evicted a tenant from the property converted into a hotel after only a few weeks. With the help of an armed thugs, says the aggrieved party.
Diamond trade
After a few more futile attempts to shake hands, Jabłonowski drips off. From his black Mercedes, he calls after me through the open window that he is not very fond of 007. Understandable: African gold, bribes, diamond trading, tough guys, Bond would know what to do with them.

Fireworks herald the year 1938 on the set in Borowa. In the film, the villa is the mansion that grandfather Joan Münninghoff had built in Riga before World War II. Photo: BOIDR
The interlude eluded the crew of 'The Tribesman' - at the height of the party, two hundred people were engaged. Not much later, the smoke from the fireworks has cleared, the new year has arrived. The wait is for the early morning when Frans will appear on horseback on the steps. Spectacular, larger than life, but too late for the regulars.
AVROTROS will broadcast The Stamholder on NPO 1 from 1 January.