SG - Wageningen Students’ Lives During World War II

Your studies are upended when suddenly war breaks out. What do you do? Eighty years ago, students your age were asking themselves this very question. Take this unique opportunity in the monumental setting of Hotel de Wereld to explore the grey devilish dilemmas of war through the experiences of Wageningen Students at home and far from it.What was it like to be a local or foreign student during WWII?Newly discovered first degree testimonies about life in forced labour in camps deep behind enemy lines will complement the stories and testimonies of students who held out in the Netherlands.

Bob Kernkamp (Wageningen City Archives) has intensively reviewed the historical records of Ceres and Unitas. He has spoken throughout Germany and the Netherlands about the local and regional context of this War’s impact. Tonight he will set the stage by outlining the important developments before, during and after the war, and how these touched the lives of Wageningers and the University population here. André & Dylan Lardinois, and Philippe Puylaert follow with a reconstruction of their fathers’ experiences and share the story of a group of friends trying to survive war in work camps far behind enemy lines. They do this with personal letters from family archives and the recently released first degree testimonies of others. Taken together, their contributions provide a unique opportunity to understand the fundamental human experiences of young Europeans who would forever after be affected by what they had been through together.