26 févr. 2026

Gabrielle Weidner (1914 - 1945)

Resistance fighter with the Dutch-Paris network

Elder sister of Jean Weidner, founder of the Dutch-Paris rescue network, Gabrielle Weidner played a key role in protecting hundreds of Jewish refugees during the Second World War.

Based in Paris, she began working in 1933 as a secretary at the Union franco-belge des Adventistes du Septième Jour. When the German occupation turned the capital upside down, Gabrielle courageously took part in the network's clandestine activities, carrying messages, escorting fugitives and helping them get to safety.

On February 26, 1944, in the middle of a church service, the Gestapo arrested her and many other members of the network, after a denunciation from a member of the network was extracted under torture. Detained at Fresnes, she was deported a few months later to the Ravensbrück camp, then sent to its annex in Koenigsberg.

Weakened by deprivation, Gabrielle died of malnutrition on February 17, 1945, just a few days after the camp was liberated by Soviet troops. She was 30 years old.

On May 24, 1950, France paid tribute to her by awarding her the Croix de la Résistance, in recognition of her courage, dignity and commitment to saving lives at the risk of her own.