Flee the Captor: The Story of the Dutch-Paris Underground and John Henry Weidner
Herbert Ford chronicles Dutch-Paris founder John Weidner, whose textile network became Europe’s longest escape line.
- Author
- Herbert Ford
- Publisher
- Southern Publishing Association
- Price
- Can$19.99
- ISBN
- 0828008825
- Published
- 1977
Flee the Captor: The Story of the Dutch-Paris Underground and John Henry Weidner by Herbert Ford
John and Elisabeth Weidner began by helping a Jewish couple escape to Switzerland; the effort grew into the Dutch-Paris Line, the longest escape route in occupied Europe. Herbert Ford details how the network smuggled airmen, Engelandvaarders, and Jews from the Netherlands through Belgium and France to Spain, while running courier missions for the Dutch government-in-exile.
Drawing on interviews and archives, Ford explains how Weidner used his textile businesses as safe houses, managed forged documents and currencies, and rebuilt the line after betrayals. He recounts Weidner’s capture, torture by the Milice and Gestapo, and repeated escapes. Decorated by many nations, Weidner credited his Seventh-day Adventist faith: “They were God’s children; they were human beings.”
Southern Publishing Association. Can$19.99. ISBN 0828008825.