The film was co-produced and co-financed by entrepreneur Alfred Heineken (better known as the owner of the Dutch Heineken beer brewery), who also obtained the rights for the movie. He requested that his friend Nan Los (with whom he reportedly had an affair at the time) got a part in the movie. Heineken withdrew the film from distribution several years later for personal reasons; although he never clarified the decision, his relationship with Los had supposedly ended shortly before, when she left him for another man. It wasn't until 2002, after Heineken's death, that the film could be shown publicly again.
Selected into the Canon of Dutch Cinema in 2007, which is comprised of "sixteen important and defining movies that show the versatility of Dutch movie history".
The Netherland's official submission to the 1964's Oscar in the Best Foreign Language Film category.
At the Dutch Film Days festival of 1986, the Society of Dutch Film Journalists KNF hosted a four-day international seminar on the Second World War, screening all movies made in Holland dealing with collaboration and resistance. As reported by the Dutch magazine Filmkrant, the event generated keen interest in this movie in particular, leading to a number of international releases.