The novel De ordening, published in 1998, was based on the life of Florentine Rost van Tonningen (1914-2007), a Dutch national-socialist who stood by her beliefs until her death.
The book is a work of historical fiction about a Dutch judge who is sent to Japan to represent his country in the International Military Tribunal for the Far East.
Van Beijnum told the paper he constructed a fictional character and "maybe used some small bits" from the material ("a little book") provided to him by judge Röling's son.
[5] On December 14, 2014, another Dutch daily newspaper, De Volkskrant, named the controversy "the literary scandal of 2014", and revealed that the author made several changes to his book ahead of publication to accommodate the grievances of judge Röling's son.
[6] Judge Röling's son Hugo published the biographical account of his father's time at the tribunal as De rechter die geen ontzag had (lit.