Dutch - Paris Dutch - Paris was an underground network of the Dutch , Belgian and French Resistance with the objective to save people and smuggle documents during World War II . Summary . Dutch - Paris was one of the most important and most successful underground networks for people persecuted for faith or race , Allied pilots and persons of great Dutch importance to help them escape via Switzerland and Spain during the Second World War . In its heyday , 300 people were part of the underground network , of which about 150 people were arrested . 40 people were slain or died from the effects of captivity . The escape route has greatly contributed to the French resistance , and is responsible for the rescue of more than 1 , 080 people , including 800 Dutch jews and more than 112 downed Allied pilots . History . Jean Weidner was born to Dutch parents in the vicinity of the Swiss - French border at Collonges - sous - Salève - a place in the French department of Haute - Savoie . At the outbreak of the Second World War , Jean was living in Paris . With the subsequent German occupation of France , he fled with several others from Paris to Lyon in the unoccupied part of France . Because he had to abandon his Parisian business , he began a new business in Lyon . In 1941 , Jean founded an escape network that would later be known as " Dutch - Paris " of which the location of his Lyonnaise textile business at 13 Rue du Griffon soon became it ’ s headquarters . He was assisted by Jacques Rens , Edmond Chait , Jef Lejeune , Hermann Laastman , Paul Veerman , Benno Nijkerk , Hans Wisbrun and father Aan de Stegge . Although the leadership was mainly Dutch , the majority of the network was French . Dutch - Paris was in close contact with other networks of the Belgian and French resistance to obtain false papers including place for sheltering , food and other services . Most refugees were Jewish families but also “ Engelandvaarders ” and allied pilots . Rich Dutch people often paid the flight their self , but Dutch authorities in exile made contributions as well . Initially Switzerland was the endpoint of the escape route , as Jean knew hiding places and the route through the mountains to Switzerland well from childhood climbing . In order to get passes to go in and out of the Swiss frontier zone , he set up a second textile shop in Annecy at the end of 1942 . Later the endpoint of escape line was extended by Spain , which run via Toulouse through the guides led Pyrenees mountains . There is an anecdote how the name Dutch - Paris was known : One day , an allied pilot in Paris asked Hermann Laatsman what the name was of the organization that helped him . Because the organization had no name at that time , Laatsman just replied : " Dutch in Paris " , most likely due to the presence of Dutch helpers in Paris . Back in England , the pilot told everyone that he was helped by " Dutch - Paris " , and that name has stuck since . Jean later said that his upbringing as a Seventh Day Adventist and its altruistic nature , was an important reason for him to dedicate his life to the rescue of people who were persecuted by the Nazis . Additionally his organizational skills , persuasion and perseverance has made the escape network a real successful . Arrest . In February 1944 , a young female courier was arrested by the French police officers of the Brigade d ' lnterpellation and extradited to the Gestapo . Against all rules , she had a notebook with her containing names and addresses of Dutch - Paris members . She was brutally interrogated by a guard that held her head under cold water until she nearly drowned . Under torture she revealed many names of key members of the underground network . As a result , a large number of Dutch - Paris members were arrested . Most were detained in the Fresnes prison in Paris , after which they were shipped to various concentration camps . 40 members did not survive the captivity , or died later from the effects of captivity . Jean and many other top members managed to escape because they were always on the road , and were cautious not to stay for too long in one place . Unfortunately Herman Laatsman did not manage to flee in time , and was arrested and tortured before he was shipped to a concentration camp . After this big blow to the network , they managed to continue the work on a small scale until the end of the war . Escape routes . The network spread from the Netherlands over Belgium , France , Spain and Switzerland , and consisted of a serie of independent operating escape lines that were knotted together . At the summer of 1943 , the network was at its full strength . The escape routes had a relay race character , which had the ability that as well as on the journey out as on the return trip smuggled documents could be taken along in a coordinated manner . Because the escape lines operated independently , they offered a solution to the ever - changing travel conditions and hiding places . Additionally couriers were always familiar with the route , and their journeys were comparatively short . The journey to Switzerland went from the Netherlands to Brussels , then Paris , Lyon to Annecy , and finally cut through the Alpine Mountains to the Swiss border . Alternatively , the journey to Spain went from Paris to Toulouse , and led through the Pyrenees to Andorra , and from there to the Spanish border . In addition there were a number of alternative passages , like a route that connected Lyon to Toulouse , and another that led from Lyon to Perpignan via Avignon . Documents Smuggling . For the London based Dutch government in exile it was very important to know what was going on in the Netherlands . Conversely , people in the Netherlands wondered what plans their government had intended for them . Information gathered by the resistance , that was obtained from espionage activities was micrograph recorded , and then hidden in all kinds of objects ( pencils , shoes , etc . ) , preventing them from discovery when body searched . The lines that were used for escape were similar to the message lines , although the smuggling of documents mainly ran via Switzerland . This made Dutch - Paris part of the so - called Swiss Way - A . In Geneva , the documents were collected by Willem Visser ' t Hooft who was working for the World Council of Churches being established , and send to the Intelligence of the Dutch government in London . Funding . From his seat in neutral Switzerland , Willem Visser ' t Hooft managed to stay in contact with churches in the occupied territories and additionally played an important role in obtaining funds for Dutch - Paris from the London based Dutch authorities in exile . Beside the help to refugees , the next most important activity of Dutch - Paris was the repatriation of allied pilots that were downed in the Netherlands and Belgium . Since the escape route to Spain was well guarded and very dangerous because of precipices , slipperiness and snowfall , the fees that were charged by mountain guides and providers of shelters on the way through the Pyrenees were very high . To compensate for these high costs , the Allied authorities rewarded the network with a fee for every soldier that fled to Spain . Since the funds of the Dutch authorities were insufficient in itself , the extra reward from the Allied authorities made it possible for Dutch - Paris to expand their support to needy refugees . Successes . One of the biggest successes of Dutch - Paris was the help to Bram van der Stok , which was one of the three Allied pilots that managed to make a successful " home run " to England after the escape from Stalag Luft III . The two other Norwegian prisoner of war were Per Bergsland and Jens Muller which managed to reach neutral Sweden from Denmark by boat . All other escapees were captured , of whom later 50 were shot as a retaliation .