Gedenkteken voor de oorlogslachtoffers Koloniale Hogeschool

The memorial to the war victims of the Colonial School is a 1949 monument by Diane Smeester, located in front of the former Colonial School in Antwerp (today University of Antwerp, Middelheim Campus). 

This monument honours the students and staff of the Colonial School who lost their lives during both World Wars. Set within a hardstone frame is a bronze relief with two nude figures: one standing proudly upright, the chains on his wrists broken; the other kneeling, gaze cast downward, his arms bound behind his back. The five-pointed star in the upper left corner refers to the colonial flag. Fourteen names of the fallen are inscribed on the monument: three professors and eleven students, above which hangs a laurel wreath. 

At the bottom of the monument is the Latin inscription “Patriae liberandae propugnatoribus”, which can be translated as: “To the champions of the liberation of the fatherland.” 

Diane Smeester was a 20th-century sculptor known for her commemorative works. She studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp and later worked in the studios of renowned sculptors such as Oscar Jespers. 

More information about Antwerp and the Second World War can be found here.