France // Pastor André Trocmé

Le Chambon- sur-Lignon, France… Winter 1940 – The village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, located in a mountainous region of Vichy France, was an enclave for French Protestants. From the beginning of the German occupation, the inhabitants of the village adopted a spirit of resistance, encouraged by their pastor, André Trocmé.

Late one night in the winter of 1940 someone knocked on the door of Pastor Trocmé’s home. A Jewish woman who had fled from Germany sought shelter; she thought perhaps the local pastor would understand her plight. Magda Trocmé, Pastor Trocmé’s wife, knew that the woman would need false identity documents in order to avoid arrest. Magda went to the mayor’s office to see if he would help. The mayor refused and demanded that the Jewish refugee leave Le Chambon the following day. Realizing the danger this woman now faced, Magda asked a family if they would hide her. They agreed to do so and took the woman into their home.

Magda and André Trocmé began to identify more families in and around Le Chambon who were willing to shelter Jewish refugees. People of all ages were hidden in homes, residential schools, and public institutions. In the summer of 1942, French police descended on Le Chambon to stop the community’s rescue work. Pastor Trocmé delivered a forceful sermon to his congregation in which he urged them to uphold their religious values and to resist all actions that betrayed the teachings of the Gospel. Because of the increased police presence, many of the Jews were spirited out of Le Chambon and hidden in surrounding farms. Villagers helped Jews who were most at-risk to make the dangerous trek to the Swiss border.

In February 1943, Pastor Trocmé was arrested and sent to a detention camp in France. The camp commander demanded that he sign an oath of loyalty to the Vichy government. He refused, but was released after five weeks. Pastor Trocmé went underground at that point but continued to oversee the community’s rescue work. By the time France was liberated in September 1944, the villagers of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon and the eleven surrounding villages had saved approximately 5,000 people, including about 3,500 Jews.

Pastor Trocmé died years ago, and Magda Trocmé passed away in October 1996.