Campus

4 May: Remembering from afar

There will be no memorial service on Tuesday 4 May. Various ceremonies surrounding the commemoration will be shared remotely.

Prof. Jan Mekel and 20 Mining Engineering students died during World War II. Their names are displayed in a lead glass window in the former Faculty of Mining Engineering (now the Science Centre). (Photo from the Herdenkingsboek (remembrance day book))

Rector Tim van der Hagen, Mayor Marja van Bijsterveldt and representatives of the student associations, the Mining Engineering Association and the Association Council will lay a wreath at the remembrance plaque in the hall of the Aula. The plaque is engraved with the names of 183 TU Delft students and teachers who lost their lives in the Resistance and through the violence of World War II (1940-1945).

The wreath laying will be broadcast on a livestream on the Facebook page of the municipality of Delft. Images of remembrance in other places in Delft can also be viewed there. The programme starts at 18:30.

Last year, in celebration of 75 years of Liberation, the Stichting Erfgoed Mijnbouwkunde Delft (mining engineering heritage foundation Delft, in Dutch) published a book entitled 21 Namen 21 Gezichten (21 Names 21 Faces). It tells the stories of students and teachers during World War II and what is still visible from this time. These men demonstrate that there is always a ‘no’ when the boundaries of decency and morality are seriously crossed, says the Foundation. The book can be downloaded (in Dutch) free.

Podcast
These and other stories will also feature in the latest X TU Delft podcast. What was it like to be a student at TU Delft during World War II? Could you even study? Were the student associations open?

Abel Streefland, TU Delft historian, and Pim Jager, member of the Archive Committee of the TU Delft Studenten Corps student association answer these questions. They talk about the more than 700 students that left TU Delft to join the army, the bombardment just outside Delft, the continued education at TU Delft during the war and the involvement of the German Government.

  • Listen to the English language podcast Let’s Talk about TU Delft during World War II on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
Editor Redactie

Do you have a question or comment about this article?

delta@tudelft.nl

Comments are closed.