The Weidner Collection at Stanford University

In 2006, the Weidner Foundation entrusted care of our Weidner Collection to the Hoover Institute at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.  The Collection includes the personal correspondence, papers, and documents of John Weidner; a wide array of additional materials related to the Dutch-Paris Line; historical artifacts, such as Weidner’s Medal of Freedom and other awards and citations; and recorded interviews with survivors and rescuers.  Much of the material in the collection was gathered by Weidner himself after World War II and was later organized by historian Alberto Sbacchi.  Materials in the Collection are in English, French, and Dutch, and fill 96 manuscript boxes, 12 oversized boxes, 1 card file box, and 9 motion picture film reels.  A partial inventory of the Weidner Collection is now available online.

The Weidner Collection is open to scholars conducting strictly non-commercial research on Weidner and the Dutch-Paris Line.  The John Weidner Foundation holds exclusive rights to the name, image, and likeness of John Weidner, and to any commercial uses of information contained in the Weidner Collection.  Inquiries about conducting research using the Weidner Collection should be directed to the Hoover Institute.

The Escape Line by Megan Koreman (Oxford University Press, 2018)

Through grants from the Weidner Foundation, and with exclusive access to the Weidner Collection, historian Megan Koreman (whose parents were part of the Dutch resistance) spent more than a decade researching the Dutch-Paris Line.  Her book, The Escape Line (published in Dutch under the title Gewone Helden), now tells the full story of one of the most important rescue operations of World War II for the first time.

The author is a deft narrator, drawing on original documents and survivors’ accounts, and despite the grim realities of living in Nazi-occupied territory, there are enough lighter moments to give readers a well-rounded perspective. There is an enormous amount of detail…An invaluable account of genuine heroism in the midst of one of the most terrifying episodes of human history.

—Kirkus, starred review

The Weidner Visual History Project

The Weidner Collection housed at Stanford University contains not only written documents but also numerous photographs taken before, during, and after World War II.  These images bring the story of the Dutch-Paris Line and its members to life in a more powerful way than words alone can capture.   In addition to these still images, a number of independent filmmakers have produced documentaries about the Line, as well as oral history interviews with both rescuers and survivors.  These films include: Dick VerKijk’s 1967 Dutch language “Weg naar de Vrijheid” (Way to Freedom), Tompaul Wheeler’s “Sanctuary: John Weidner and the Dutch-Paris Underground”, and Mick Cummins’ “Escape to Freedom” (profiling Rudy Zeeman).  Our ongoing Visual History Project is an online archive of quality photographs and films about the Dutch-Paris Line, which can be accessed following the links below (coming soon).