Walk with the Sunset March on 11 April

On Friday 11 April employees and students of Radboud University and Radboudumc will walk the Sunset March. The march starts at 8:25 p.m. sharp on the south side of bridge De Oversteek. Around 8:40 p.m. the march ends on the other side of the river Waal at the monument Waalcrossing. There a wreath will be laid by Alexandra van Huffelen, president of the Executive Board, and Bertine Lahuis, president of the Board of Directors of Radboudumc.

Everyone is invited to walk along! Participants in the march are asked to be present 15 minutes in advance.

Sunset Marches

Since 2014, the Sunset Marches have been a daily tribute to 48 Allied soldiers who died here on September 20, 1944, during Operation Market Garden. At sunset, a veteran, along with those who join him, crosses the De Oversteek bridge at the pace of the lights coming on from the artwork Lights Crossing.

Since 2019, when 75 Years of Freedom was celebrated in Nijmegen, representatives from Radboud University and Radboudumc walk the Sunset March every year on April 11.

11 April 1943

Employees of Radboudumc and Radboud University walk the Sunset March on 11 April. This date was chosen because of the special significance this day has for the university: on 11 April 1943, Rector Magnificus Bernard Hermesdorf closed the Catholic University of Nijmegen.

Rector Hermesdorf, with the support of the Nijmegen Senate, the Board of Curators and the directors of the Sint Radboudstichting (Saint Radboud Foundation), opposed the signing of the declaration of loyalty that the Germans demanded of Dutch students. Hermesdorf was the only Dutch rector not to send the declaration to the students of his university. The inevitable consequence of this attitude was the closure of the institution effective on 11 April 1943. Hermesdorf himself confirmed the message on 10 April with a notice to this effect on a board in the auditorium. Thus he managed to keep his back straight in extremely difficult circumstances.