Statue to commemorate a act of resistance in 1942

English translation of the text:

"In the night of December 12/13, 1942 the students Gijs den Besten, Frits Iordens, Geert Lubberhuizen, Anne Maclaine Pont and Rutger Matthijsen set fire to the university administration, which was housed behind this wall, in order to prevent the occupier from misusing this information.

The University of Utrecht honours in them all her students and staff members who during the years of 1940–1945 were involved in the resistance.

The partly-melted Hermes statue shows the effect of the fire.

'In the blackest hours we kept on knowing
that there are eternal principles.'
Prof.dr. P.C.A. Geyl"