Victor Henri Rutgers, rector of the Vrije Universiteit in 1933 and 1940, spoke out against the National Socialism also emerging in the Netherlands from the early 1930s. In 1940, as rector, he signed the declaration against dismissal of Jewish staff and allowed Jewish students to continue using the University Library - despite a ban on it by the Germans.
The picture shows one of the 21 diaries from Rutgers' archive.
Arrested at sea
On 5 February 1945, Rutgers died in a German prison. On 26 April 1944, he had been arrested at sea while attempting to reach England by boat. The engine had failed.
No reference to start of war
As many as 21 of his diaries have survived. On the date 10 May 1940, we do not see any reference to the German invasion or the start of the war. It contains only a few appointments. Typical of a down-to-earth, businesslike man. But he was also strongly socially committed.
Helped over 600 refugees
In 1928, Rutgers had been appointed professor at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. In his first rectoral address in 1933, he spoke out against the National Socialist state on principle. Three years later, he became chairman and driving force behind the Protestant Aid Committee for Refugees for Race or Belief. Over six hundred refugees were eventually helped by the committee.
Resistance hero
Rutgers can rightly be called a resistance hero. In 1940, as rector, he took an outspoken anti-German stance. He was also active in school resistance, was part of the underground board of the Antirevolutionary Party and was involved in founding Trouw. He was arrested and released several times.
Time for a biography
Relatively little literature can be found about Victor Henri Rutgers. He deserves a biography, almost 75 years after his death. The archive at the HDC | Protestant Heritage collection is ready for it.
B. De Gaay Fortman, Life message of Prof. Mr. V.H. Rutgers (Kampen, s.d.) ‘Speech to commemorate Prof. Mr. V.H. Rutgers, delivered in the Senate meeting of 27 March 1945 by Prof. Mr. J. van Oranje’ in: The VU in wartime, Wageningen 1946
J.W. Brouwer, Inventaris van het archief van V.H. Rutgers, VU Amsterdam 1992. Gjalt Zondergeld, ‘Victor Henri Rutgers. Politician, professor, resistance hero' in: Ab Flipse (ed.) Looking further. One hundred and thirty-five years of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in society, Amsterdam 2016.
