“No Ordinary Heroes” TEDx Talk in Sarajevo by Tanja Magaš, March 2019

Chair of the Weidner Foundation Board, Tanja Magaš, shares the story of the Dutch-Paris Escape Line and challenges listeners to follow John Weidner’s example of selfless service to others.  In addition to her leadership role with the Weidner Foundation, Magaš has over a decade of experience working in financial services between New York, London and Dubai.  She holds an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School, an MA in International Relations from the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania and a BA in Political Science and Philosophy from Columbia University.

 

The Weidner Collection at Stanford University

In 2006, the Weidner Foundation entrusted care of our Weidner Collection to the Hoover Institution 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 research on Weidner and the Dutch-Paris Line.  The John Weidner Foundation retains the intellectual property rights and copyrights to the Collection.  Inquiries about conducting research using the Weidner Collection should be directed to the Hoover Institution.  All inquiries about copyrights and permissions for use of Weidner Collection materials should be directed to the Weidner Foundation.

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

Through funding from the Weidner Foundation, and with exclusive access to the Weidner Collection, historian Megan Koreman (whose relatives 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