She did not stand aside

 Volume 39, nr. 1   
 10 minutes    By Michelle Moonen, English

This article reveals the dynamic interplay between invented traditions, imagined communities and commemoration of the Second World War within the Utrecht student association U.V.S.V.


The Utrecht student association U.V.S.V, a so-called ‘gezelligheidsvereniging,’ has its own way of traditions commemorating the Second World War. How can this special commemoration be linked to traditions and local communities? In this article Michelle Moonen researches the role of commemoration in the shaping of collective memory.

Michelle Moonen studies political history and is interested in environmental history, political and cultural memory studies, and Irish history of the twentieth century. She is now in the third and last year of her BA History and will start working on her thesis next.

Image at top: Hestia, the building of U.V.S.V. at Drift 19, Utrecht, 2023. Source: Michelle Moonen.