Hendrik Johannes Adrianus "Henk" Hofland (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɦɛndrɪk joːˈɦɑnəs aːdriˈjaːnʏs ɦɛŋk ˈɦɔflɑnt]; 20 July 1927 – 21 June 2016), also commonly known as H.J.A.

As a twelve-year-old boy he witnessed the bombing of the city on 14 May 1940, during the German invasion of the Netherlands, in which the centre of Rotterdam was almost completely destroyed, killing 900 civilians and leaving 80,000 homeless.

At the Handelsblad, Anton Constandse instructed Hofland to the practice of journalism;[7] he worked with Hans van Mierlo and Jan Blokker, who became lifelong friends, just like[clarification needed] author Harry Mulisch.

Hofland later declared “I knew that freedom had lost and that the West wouldn't help.”[8] In 1960, as the paper’s junior foreign editor, he went to the United States in the US State Department’s Jointly Sponsored Journalists project, that organised placement of foreign journalists with American provincial newspapers.

He covered the Presidential primaries in New Hampshire and West Virginia and heard John F. Kennedy speak, an experience he remembered as “flamboyant, unforgettable”.

[10][11] Under the alias Samuel Montag, a pseudonym he took from a British banking house, he writes ruminations on everyday aspects of life.

A frequent New York resident, he often voices exasperation at modern phenomena such as advertising, linguistic deterioration, free market ideology and growing car ownership.