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{{short description|French husband-and-wife protectors of Jewish refugees; Righteous Among the Nations}} |
{{short description|French husband-and-wife protectors of Jewish refugees; Righteous Among the Nations}} |
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[[File:Pasteur André Trocmé.jpg|thumb|Pastor André Trocmé]] |
[[File:Pasteur André Trocmé.jpg|thumb|Pastor André Trocmé {{c.|1941}}]] |
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{{Righteous Among the Nations}} |
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⚫ | '''André Trocmé''' (April 7, 1901 – June 5, 1971) and his wife, '''Magda''' (née Grilli di Cortona, November 2, 1901 – October 10, 1996),<ref name="Swarthmore"/> were a French couple designated [[Righteous Among the Nations]]. For 15 years, André served as a [[Protestantism in France|Protestant]] [[pastor]] in the French town of [[Le Chambon-sur-Lignon]], on the Plateau Vivarais-Lignon, in south-central [[France]]. He had been accepted to the rather remote parish because of his [[Christian pacifist]] positions, which were not well received by the [[Reformed Church of France|French Protestant Church]]. In his preaching, he spoke out against discrimination as the Nazis were gaining power in neighboring Germany and urged his Protestant [[Huguenot]] congregation to hide [[Jewish]] refugees from [[the Holocaust]] during [[World War II]]. |
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==Early life== |
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⚫ | '''André Trocmé''' (April 7, 1901 – June 5, 1971) and his wife, '''Magda''' (née Grilli di Cortona, November 2, 1901 – October 10, 1996),<ref name="Swarthmore"/> were a French couple designated [[Righteous Among the Nations]]. For 15 years, André served as a [[pastor]] in the |
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André Trocmé was born in [[Saint-Quentin-en-Tourmont]] to a large and prosperous upper-middle class and Protestant family. His mother, Pauline Schwerdtmenn, passed away when Trocmé was ten due to an automobile accident, leaving him to be raised by his distant but demanding father.<ref name=":22">{{Cite journal |last=Zuccotti |first=Susan |year=2014 |title=A Portrait of Pacifists: Le Chambon, the Holocaust, and the Lives of André and Magda Trocmé |journal=Peace & Change |volume=39 |pages=276–278 |doi=10.1111/pech.12070 |issn=0149-0508 |via=Academic Search Ultimate}}</ref><ref name=":42">{{Cite journal |last=Batten |first=Alicia J |date=2010-07-03 |title=Reading the Bible in occupied France: André Trocmé and Le Chambon |journal=Harvard Theological Review |volume=103 |issue=3 |pages=309–328 |doi=10.1017/S0017816010000659 |issn=0017-8160 |via=Atla Religion Database}}</ref> André's father, Paul Trocmé, was a wealthy curtain manufacturer.<ref name=":42" /> His upbringing was sheltered and strict, but he faced reality when the First World War reached his hometown. During this period of time, Trocmé was only thirteen as he watched soldiers struggle through the streets after battle. In 1916 he saw the trains carrying soldiers bodies to the crematoriums of the South.<ref name=":42" /> Trocmé became aware of the notions of identity and loyalty as his family was split between his mother's German heritage and his half-French brothers.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Moorehead |first=Caroline |title=Village of Secrets |publisher=HarperCollins |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-06-220247-5 |pages=112–118}}</ref> |
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His views on pacifism came to fruition when he met a young soldier. They spoke a great deal, and the young soldier told him about the ideals of non-violence, influencing Trocmé greatly. The young soldier was killed in battle later on, and Trocmé took pacifism more seriously.<ref name=":02" /> When his hometown was bombed in 1917 by the Germans, he and his family were evacuated to southern Belgium as refugees. This gave Trocmé an understanding of what it meant to be poor, contrast to the wealthy life he had been accustomed to.<ref name=":22" /> |
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==Biography== |
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André was born in [[Saint-Quentin-en-Tourmont]]. He married Magda, a native of [[Florence]], in 1926. They had four children: Nelly, Jean-Pierre, Jacques, and Daniel.<ref name="Swarthmore"/> In 1938, Pastor André Trocmé and the Reverend Edouard Theis founded the [[Collège Lycée International Cévenol]] in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon. Its initial purpose was to prepare local country youngsters to enter the university. When the refugees arrived, it also took in many Jewish young people wishing to continue their secondary education. |
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== Studies in Theology == |
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⚫ | When France |
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The Trocmé family moved to Paris, shortly after the end of the First World War. He began studying at the Faculty of the Protestant Theology as well as at Sorbonne.<ref name=":42" /> Trocmé's convictions of nonviolence and Christian socialism were deepened here as he studied the Bible. He met many students like himself, including Edouard Theis, who later joined Trocmé in Le Chambon. Trocmé's studies were interrupted due to mandatory military service (1921–1923), which Trocmé did not oppose because he wanted to experience the service time in Morocco.<ref name=":02" /><ref name=":42" /> Upon returning from the military he joined the French wing of the [[International Fellowship of Reconciliation]] along with several of his friends from university.<ref name=":42" /> In 1925 he was offered a one-year bursary designated for young French theologians by the [[Union Theological Seminary (New York City)|Union Theological Seminary]] in New York.<ref name=":42" /> It was there that Trocmé worked as a tutor for the children of [[John D. Rockefeller Jr.|John D. Rockefeller Jr]]. as a way to pay for his expenses abroad. Trocmé met Magda Grilli, a Russian-Italian woman who had come to New York to learn social work and escape the confines of her home.<ref name=":02" /> Magda Elisa Larissa Grilli di Cortona was born on November 2, 1901, in Florence, Italy.<ref name=":32">{{Cite journal |last=Fox |first=Deborah |date=2006 |title=Magda Trocmé: A Mother Responds, "Hineni!" |journal=Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=91–95 |issn=0882-8539 |via=Academic Search Ultimate}}</ref> Her father was an Italian born of Florentine nobility and was distant to Magda due to the death of his wife, Magda's mother. Magda's mother was a Russian woman who died shortly after giving birth to Magda.<ref name=":32" /> Magda's new step-mother had attempted to put Magda into a Catholic school while in elementary school, but Magda could not outwardly conform. Magda preferred to make up her own mind rather than follow the "ready-made" opinions of others. Even marrying a Protestant pastor did not change her skepticism of religion.<ref name=":32" /> |
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From a young age, Magda was interested in social work.<ref name=":22" /> In 1925, Magda attended the New York School of Social Work at Columbia University by scholarship. It was here in New York that Magda and André met.<ref name=":32" /> |
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⚫ | With the help of many dedicated people, families were located who were willing to accommodate Jewish refugees; members of the community reported to the railroad station to gather the arriving refugees, and the town's schools were prepared for the increased enrollment of new children, often under false names. Many village families and numerous farm families also took in children whose parents had been shipped to concentration camps in Germany. Trocmé refused to accept the definitions of those in power. "We do not know what a Jew is. We only know men", he said when asked by the Vichy authorities to produce a list of the Jews in the town.{{Sfn | Hallie | 1979 | p = 103}} Between 1940 and 1945 when World War II ended in Europe, it is |
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André Trocmé married Magda Grilli in 1926. They had four children: Nelly, Jean-Pierre, Jacques, and Daniel. Trocmé's first post as a pastor was at [[Maubeuge]] in northern France, a town destroyed by the Great War.<ref name=":02" /> Conscientious objection was a forbidden matter among pastors, though this did not stop Trocmé from supporting those of the town who refused conscription.<ref name=":02" /> This reflected Trocmé's pacifism, which was not highly regarded in the Protestant faith.<ref name=":02" /> The family stayed here for seven years, but by 1932 the dusty, polluted air began to take a toll on them. While in search of a new parish, Trocmé was turned down by the first two he had applied to. The third, Le Chambon, was more open to pacifists and admired his great faith.<ref name=":02" /> |
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⚫ | These activities eventually came to the attention of the anti-Jewish Vichy regime. Authorities and "security agents" were sent to perform searches within the town, most of which were unsuccessful. One arrest by the Gestapo led to the death of several young Jewish men in deportation camps. |
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In 1938, Pastor André Trocmé and Reverend Edouard Theis founded the Ecole Nouvelle Cévenole, which later became [[Le Collège-Lycée Cévenol International]], in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon. Its initial purpose was to prepare local country youngsters to enter the university.<ref name=":12">{{Cite web |last=Sunshine |first=Glenn |date=2016-04-25 |title=André and Magda Trocmé and the Village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon |url=https://www.breakpoint.org/andre-and-magda-trocme-and-the-village-of-le-chambon-sur-lignon/ |access-date=2023-04-25 |website=www.breakpoint.org}}</ref> When the refugees arrived, it also took in many Jewish young people wishing to continue their secondary education. |
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⚫ | In February 1943, André Trocmé was arrested along with Edouard Theis and the public school headmaster Roger Darcissac. Sent to [[Saint-Paul d'Eyjeaux]], |
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''Pacifism in the Twentieth Century'', by [[Peter Brock (historian)|Peter Brock]] and Nigel Young. Syracuse University Press, New York, 1999 {{ISBN|0-8156-8125-9}} (p. 220)</ref> |
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== World War II == |
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After the war, Trocmé served as European secretary for the [[International Fellowship of Reconciliation]].<ref name="cem">Charles E. Moore, "Introduction" to André Trocmé ''Jesus and the Nonviolent Revolution''. Orbis Books, 2004. {{ISBN|1570755388}} (pp. ix–xvii).</ref> During the [[Algerian War]], André and Magda set up the group Eirene in Morocco with the aid of the [[Mennonites]], to help French [[conscientious objector]]s.<ref name="cem" /> |
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⚫ | When [[Battle of France|France was overrun]] by [[Nazi Germany]] in 1940,<ref name=":12" /> the mission to resist the Nazis became increasingly important. Believing in the same ideas as former Pastor [[Charles Guillon]], André and Magda Trocmé became involved in a network organizing the rescue of Jews fleeing the deportation efforts of the Nazi implementation of their [[Final Solution]]. Following the establishment of the [[Vichy France]] regime, Trocmé and other area ministers serving other parishes encouraged their congregations to shelter "the people of the Bible" and for their cities to be a "city of refuge."<ref>{{cite book|last=Atwood|first=Kathryn J.|title=Women Heroes of World War II|year=2011|url=https://archive.org/details/womenheroesworld00atwo|url-access=limited|location=Chicago|publisher= Chicago Review Press|isbn=9781556529610|page=[https://archive.org/details/womenheroesworld00atwo/page/n89 83]}}</ref> Trocmé was a catalyst whose efforts led to Le Chambon and surrounding villages becoming a unique haven in [[German military administration in occupied France during World War II|Nazi-occupied France]]. Trocmé and his church members helped their town develop ways of resisting the dominant force they faced. Together they established first one, and then a number of "safe houses" where Jewish and other refugees seeking to escape the Nazis could hide. These houses received contributions from the [[Quakers]], the [[Salvation Army]], the American [[Congregational Christian Churches|Congregational Church]], the pacifist movement [[Fellowship of Reconciliation]], Jewish and Christian ecumenical groups, the French Protestant student organization [[Cimade]] and the Swiss organization Help to Children in order to house and buy food supplies for the fleeing refugees. Many refugees were helped to escape to Switzerland following an underground railroad network. |
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⚫ | With the help of many dedicated people, families were located who were willing to accommodate Jewish refugees; members of the community reported to the railroad station to gather the arriving refugees, and the town's schools were prepared for the increased enrollment of new children, often under false names. Many village families and numerous farm families also took in children whose parents had been shipped to concentration camps in Germany. Trocmé refused to accept the definitions of those in power. "We do not know what a Jew is. We only know men", he said when asked by the Vichy authorities to produce a list of the Jews in the town.{{Sfn | Hallie | 1979 | p = 103}} Between 1940 and 1945 when World War II ended in Europe, it is now documented by researcher Muriel Rosenberg in her 2021 book ''Mais combien étaient-ils?'' that at least 2,000 Jewish refugees, including many children, were saved by the small village of Le Chambon and the communities on the surrounding plateau because the people refused to give in to what they considered to be the illegitimate legal, military and police power of the Nazis. (Earlier unsubstantiated estimates were 3,000 to 5,000 refugees were saved.) |
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⚫ | These activities eventually came to the attention of the anti-Jewish Vichy regime. Authorities and "security agents" were sent to perform searches within the town, most of which were unsuccessful. One arrest by the Gestapo led to the death of several young Jewish men in deportation camps. The director of their residence La Maison des Roches, director [[Daniel Trocmé]] who was André's second cousin, refused to let the young adults put in his care to be sent away without him. He was arrested and later murdered in the [[Majdanek concentration camp]]. When [[Georges Lamirand]], a minister in the Vichy government, made an official visit to Le Chambon on August 15, 1942, Trocmé expressed his opinions to him. Days later, the Vichy [[National Gendarmerie|gendarmes]] were sent into the town to locate "illegal" aliens. Amidst rumors that Trocmé was soon to be arrested, he urged his parishioners to "do the will of God, not of men". He also spoke of the Biblical passage {{bibleverse|Deuteronomy|19:2–10|NKJV}}, which speaks of the entitlement of the persecuted to shelter. The gendarmes were unsuccessful and left the town. |
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⚫ | In February 1943, André Trocmé was arrested along with Edouard Theis and the public school headmaster Roger Darcissac. Sent to [[Saint-Paul d'Eyjeaux]], a [[Internment camps in France|French internment camp]] near Limoges, they were released after four weeks and pressed to sign a commitment to obey all government orders. Trocmé and Theis refused but were nevertheless released. They went underground where Trocmé was still able to keep the rescue and sanctuary efforts running smoothly with the help of many friends and collaborators.<ref>''Pacifism in the Twentieth Century'', by [[Peter Brock (historian)|Peter Brock]] and Nigel Young. Syracuse University Press, New York, 1999 {{ISBN|0-8156-8125-9}} (p. 220)</ref> |
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{{Righteous Among the Nations}} |
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[[File:A Trocme speaking France.jpg|thumb|André Trocmé speaking in 1958 as co-secretary of the [[International Fellowship of Reconciliation]]]] |
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After the war, André Trocmé and his wife Magda served as co-secretaries for the [[International Fellowship of Reconciliation]], Europe.<ref name="cem">Charles E. Moore, "Introduction" to André Trocmé ''Jesus and the Nonviolent Revolution''. Orbis Books, 2004. {{ISBN|1570755388}} (pp. ix–xvii).</ref> During the [[Algerian War]], André and Magda set up the group Eirene in Morocco, with the aid of the [[Mennonites]], to help French [[conscientious objector]]s.<ref name="cem" /> They also advocated for the independence of Algeria from France, and demonstrated against the development of nuclear armaments in France. André and Magda were signatories of the agreement to convene a convention for drafting a [[world constitution]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Letters from Thane Read asking Helen Keller to sign the World Constitution for world peace. 1961 |url=https://www.afb.org/HelenKellerArchive?a=d&d=A-HK01-07-B149-F04-022.1.8 |access-date=2023-07-01 |website=Helen Keller Archive |publisher=American Foundation for the Blind}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Letter from World Constitution Coordinating Committee to Helen, enclosing current materials |url=https://www.afb.org/HelenKellerArchive?a=d&d=A-HK01-07-B154-F05-028.1.6 |access-date=2023-07-03 |website=Helen Keller Archive |publisher=American Foundation for the Blind}}</ref> In 1968, a [[World Constituent Assembly]] convened to draft and adopt the [[Constitution for the Federation of Earth]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Preparing earth constitution {{!}} Global Strategies & Solutions {{!}} The Encyclopedia of World Problems |url=http://encyclopedia.uia.org/en/strategy/193465 |url-status= |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=The Encyclopedia of World Problems {{!}} Union of International Associations (UIA)}}</ref> |
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==Legacy== |
==Legacy== |
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[[File:Plaque commémorative du sauvetage des juifs au Chambon sur Lignon.JPG|thumb|Plaque commemorating the Trocmé's rescue of the Jews in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon]] |
[[File:Plaque commémorative du sauvetage des juifs au Chambon sur Lignon.JPG|thumb|Plaque commemorating the Trocmé's rescue of the Jews in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon]] |
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In January 1971, the Holocaust memorial center in Israel, [[Yad Vashem]], recognized André Trocmé as Righteous among the Nations. He died later that year |
In January 1971, the Holocaust memorial center in Israel, [[Yad Vashem]], recognized André Trocmé as Righteous among the Nations. He died later that year in Geneva. In July 1986, Magda was also recognized. Several years later, Yad Vashem honored the village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon and the neighboring communities with an engraved stele erected in its memorial park. It was the second time Yad Vashem honored a whole community, the first time being the Dutch village of [[Nieuwlande]] in 1988. |
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André was the |
André was the second cousin of [[Daniel Trocmé]] (1910–1944), who was involved in similar activities to rescue Jews from the Vichy government and died in the [[Majdanek concentration camp]] in April 1944. In March 1976, Yad Vashem likewise recognized Daniel as Righteous among the Nations.<ref>{{cite news |
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|url = http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/righteous/stories/trocme.asp |
|url = http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/righteous/stories/trocme.asp |
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|title = The Village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon: André & Magda Trocmé, Daniel Trocmé |
|title = The Village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon: André & Magda Trocmé, Daniel Trocmé |
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|year = 2013 |
|year = 2013 |
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|access-date = 2013-04-15 |
|access-date = 2013-04-15 |
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|archive-date = 2015-11-20 |
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|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151120025041/http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/righteous/stories/trocme.asp |
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|url-status = dead |
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}}</ref> |
}}</ref> |
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Magda Trocmé was the guest of French radio program ''Les Chemins d'une Vie'' (Paths of a Life) recorded by Christian Lassalas for FR3 Auvergne Radio (April 1982 – 90 min). |
Magda Trocmé was the guest of French radio program ''Les Chemins d'une Vie'' (Paths of a Life) recorded by Christian Lassalas for FR3 Auvergne Radio (April 1982 – 90 min). |
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The Plateau Vivarais-Lignon and Le Chambon-sur-Lignon |
The Plateau Vivarais-Lignon and Le Chambon-sur-Lignon have become a symbol of the rescue of Jews in France during World War II. |
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As historians continue to examine events during the German occupation and Vichy rule, several longstanding disputes have emerged. In the case of the Plateau Vivarais-Lignon and Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, they include whether the interpretations based on Trocmé's writings are complete or correct |
As historians continue to examine events during the German occupation and Vichy rule, several longstanding disputes have emerged. In the case of the Plateau Vivarais-Lignon and Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, they include whether the interpretations based on Trocmé's writings are complete or correct. Those issues are objectively addressed in [[Robert Paxton]]'s ''Vichy France: Old Guard and New Order'' (1972) and in Patrick Henry's book, ''We Only Know Men: The Rescue of Jews in France During the Holocaust'' (2013). Meanwhile, Richard Unsworth's ''A Portrait of Pacifists: Le Chambon, the Holocaust, and the Lives of André and Magda Trocmé'' (2012) provides a thorough exploration of the roles and writings of the Trocmés. While [[Caroline Moorehead]]'s ''[[Village of Secrets]]'' (2014) also examines the events on the Plateau Vivarais-Lignon and in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, other authors, historians and documentary filmmakers believe that that book presents a biased and inaccurate view of what took place.{{cn|date=August 2023}} |
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==Quotes== |
==Quotes== |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
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* [[List of peace activists]] |
* [[List of peace activists]] |
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* [[Protestantism in France]] |
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==References== |
==References== |
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<ref name="Swarthmore">{{cite web |title=André Trocmé and Magda Trocmé Papers, 1919–date |publisher=Swarthmore College |url=http://www.swarthmore.edu/Library/peace/DG100-150/dg107Trocme.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101008220653/http://www.swarthmore.edu/library/peace/DG100-150/dg107Trocme.htm |archive-date=8 October 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref> |
<ref name="Swarthmore">{{cite web |title=André Trocmé and Magda Trocmé Papers, 1919–date |publisher=Swarthmore College |url=http://www.swarthmore.edu/Library/peace/DG100-150/dg107Trocme.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101008220653/http://www.swarthmore.edu/library/peace/DG100-150/dg107Trocme.htm |archive-date=8 October 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref> |
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==Relevant literature== |
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'''Citations''' |
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{{Refbegin}} |
{{Refbegin}} |
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* {{citation |last=Hallie |first=Philip P |title=Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed: The Story of Le Chambon and How Goodness Happened There |location=New York |publisher=Harper & Row |year=1979 |isbn = 0-06-011701-X}}. |
* {{citation |last=Hallie |first=Philip P |title=Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed: The Story of Le Chambon and How Goodness Happened There |location=New York |publisher=Harper & Row |year=1979 |isbn = 0-06-011701-X}}. |
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*Lambert, Carole. ''Against Indifference: Four Christian Responses to Jewish Suffering during the Holocaust: C. S. Lewis, Thomas Merton, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, André and Magda Trocmé.'' New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2015. |
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* {{citation |last1=Volf |first1=Miroslav |last2=Bass |first2=Dorothy C. |title=Practicing Theology: Beliefs and Practices in Christian Life |location=Grand Rapids, MI |publisher=Eerdmans |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-8028-4931-1 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/practicingtheolo0000unse }}. |
* {{citation |last1=Volf |first1=Miroslav |last2=Bass |first2=Dorothy C. |title=Practicing Theology: Beliefs and Practices in Christian Life |location=Grand Rapids, MI |publisher=Eerdmans |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-8028-4931-1 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/practicingtheolo0000unse }}. |
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* Romain Gary ''Les Cerfs-volants'', 1980 (translated as ''The Kites'', 2017) |
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{{Refend}} |
{{Refend}} |
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==External links== |
==External links== |
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* [https://chambon.org ''The Chambon Foundation''] |
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⚫ | *{{Citation | url = http://www.swarthmore.edu/Library/peace/DG100-150/dg107Trocme.htm | title = André and Magda Trocmé | publisher = Swarthmore College Peace Collection | ref = none | access-date = 2008-07-06 | archive-date = 2010-10-08 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101008220653/http://www.swarthmore.edu/library/peace/DG100-150/dg107Trocme.htm | url-status = dead }}. |
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*{{Citation | url = http://www.plough.com/ebooks/nonviolentrevolution.html | title = Jesus and the Nonviolent Revolution | first = André | last = Trocmé | orig-year = Orbis Books, 1961 | editor-first = Charles E. | editor-last = Moore | place = Framington, PA | publisher = Plough Publishing | year = 2004 |ref=none}}. |
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⚫ | *<u>A Good Place to Hide</u> by Peter Grose, a compellingly-written, accurate (fact-checked by numerous historians and André and Magda's daughter, Nelly Trocmé Hewett) account of how 2,000+ refugees were saved by Huguenot farmers on the Plateau Vivarais-Lignon during WWII. (Pegasus Books, 2015, http://pegasusbooks.com/books/a-good-place-to-hide-9781605986920-hardcover ) |
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* {{Citation | url = http://www.plough.com/ebooks/nonviolentrevolution.html | title = Jesus and the Nonviolent Revolution | first = André | last = Trocmé | orig-year = Orbis Books, 1961 | editor-first = Charles E. | editor-last = Moore | place = Framington, PA | publisher = Plough Publishing | year = 2004 |ref=none}}. |
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⚫ | *<u>We Only Know Men</u> by Patrick Henry, a thoroughly researched and referenced book that tells the stories of some of the courageous rescuers on the Plateau Vivarais-Lignon, who by instinct protected the oppressed and the helpless without first asking the question "Why?" (Catholic University of America Press, 2007, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1342636.We_Only_Know_Men ) |
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* {{cite video |people= Sauvage, Pierre |date= 1989 |title= Weapons of the Spirit (Les armes de l'esprit) |url= http://www.chambon.org/weapons_en |location= US/France |publisher= Chambon Foundation |ref= none }}{{Dead link|date=October 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Documentary. Aired in the [[US]] by the [[PBS]]. |
* {{cite video |people= Sauvage, Pierre |date= 1989 |title= Weapons of the Spirit (Les armes de l'esprit) |url= http://www.chambon.org/weapons_en |location= US/France |publisher= Chambon Foundation |ref= none }}{{Dead link|date=October 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Documentary. Aired in the [[US]] by the [[PBS]]. |
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* {{Citation | url = http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/righteous/trocme.asp | title = Trocmé, |
* {{Citation | url = http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/righteous/trocme.asp | title = Trocmé, André | publisher = Yad Vashem |ref=none}}. |
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* {{Citation | url = http://www.shoaheducation.com/lechambon.html/ | title = Le Chambon | first = Elizabeth Kirkley | last = Best | publisher = Shoah education | ref = none }}{{Dead link|date=October 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. |
* {{Citation | url = http://www.shoaheducation.com/lechambon.html/ | title = Le Chambon | first = Elizabeth Kirkley | last = Best | publisher = Shoah education | ref = none }}{{Dead link|date=October 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. |
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* {{Citation | url = http://jfr.convio.net/site/PageServer?pagename=sup_trocme | title = Pastor André Trocmé | publisher = The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous | ref = none | access-date = 2008-06-20 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110723054302/http://jfr.convio.net/site/PageServer?pagename=sup_trocme | archive-date = 2011-07-23 | url-status = dead }}. |
* {{Citation | url = http://jfr.convio.net/site/PageServer?pagename=sup_trocme | title = Pastor André Trocmé | publisher = The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous | ref = none | access-date = 2008-06-20 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110723054302/http://jfr.convio.net/site/PageServer?pagename=sup_trocme | archive-date = 2011-07-23 | url-status = dead }}. |
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* {{Citation | url = https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F06EEDC1F38F933A05753C1A96F958260 | title = A French Town's Story | newspaper = The New York Times |ref=none}}. |
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* {{Citation | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,920384,00.html?promoid=googlep | title = Good Neighbors | first = Frank | last = Trippett | newspaper = Time | date = May 21, 1979 |ref=none}}. |
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* {{Citation | url = http://www.hearthasreasons.com/bibliography.php | title = Whosoever Saves a Single Life... | publisher = Heart has reasons | type = bibliography | ref = none | access-date = 2006-01-01 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131026063357/http://www.hearthasreasons.com/bibliography.php | archive-date = 2013-10-26 | url-status = dead }}. |
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[[de:André Trocmé]] |
[[de:André Trocmé]] |
Latest revision as of 14:46, 30 August 2024
Righteous Among the Nations |
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By country |
André Trocmé (April 7, 1901 – June 5, 1971) and his wife, Magda (née Grilli di Cortona, November 2, 1901 – October 10, 1996),[1] were a French couple designated Righteous Among the Nations. For 15 years, André served as a Protestant pastor in the French town of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, on the Plateau Vivarais-Lignon, in south-central France. He had been accepted to the rather remote parish because of his Christian pacifist positions, which were not well received by the French Protestant Church. In his preaching, he spoke out against discrimination as the Nazis were gaining power in neighboring Germany and urged his Protestant Huguenot congregation to hide Jewish refugees from the Holocaust during World War II.
Early life
[edit]André Trocmé was born in Saint-Quentin-en-Tourmont to a large and prosperous upper-middle class and Protestant family. His mother, Pauline Schwerdtmenn, passed away when Trocmé was ten due to an automobile accident, leaving him to be raised by his distant but demanding father.[2][3] André's father, Paul Trocmé, was a wealthy curtain manufacturer.[3] His upbringing was sheltered and strict, but he faced reality when the First World War reached his hometown. During this period of time, Trocmé was only thirteen as he watched soldiers struggle through the streets after battle. In 1916 he saw the trains carrying soldiers bodies to the crematoriums of the South.[3] Trocmé became aware of the notions of identity and loyalty as his family was split between his mother's German heritage and his half-French brothers.[4]
His views on pacifism came to fruition when he met a young soldier. They spoke a great deal, and the young soldier told him about the ideals of non-violence, influencing Trocmé greatly. The young soldier was killed in battle later on, and Trocmé took pacifism more seriously.[4] When his hometown was bombed in 1917 by the Germans, he and his family were evacuated to southern Belgium as refugees. This gave Trocmé an understanding of what it meant to be poor, contrast to the wealthy life he had been accustomed to.[2]
Studies in Theology
[edit]The Trocmé family moved to Paris, shortly after the end of the First World War. He began studying at the Faculty of the Protestant Theology as well as at Sorbonne.[3] Trocmé's convictions of nonviolence and Christian socialism were deepened here as he studied the Bible. He met many students like himself, including Edouard Theis, who later joined Trocmé in Le Chambon. Trocmé's studies were interrupted due to mandatory military service (1921–1923), which Trocmé did not oppose because he wanted to experience the service time in Morocco.[4][3] Upon returning from the military he joined the French wing of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation along with several of his friends from university.[3] In 1925 he was offered a one-year bursary designated for young French theologians by the Union Theological Seminary in New York.[3] It was there that Trocmé worked as a tutor for the children of John D. Rockefeller Jr. as a way to pay for his expenses abroad. Trocmé met Magda Grilli, a Russian-Italian woman who had come to New York to learn social work and escape the confines of her home.[4] Magda Elisa Larissa Grilli di Cortona was born on November 2, 1901, in Florence, Italy.[5] Her father was an Italian born of Florentine nobility and was distant to Magda due to the death of his wife, Magda's mother. Magda's mother was a Russian woman who died shortly after giving birth to Magda.[5] Magda's new step-mother had attempted to put Magda into a Catholic school while in elementary school, but Magda could not outwardly conform. Magda preferred to make up her own mind rather than follow the "ready-made" opinions of others. Even marrying a Protestant pastor did not change her skepticism of religion.[5]
From a young age, Magda was interested in social work.[2] In 1925, Magda attended the New York School of Social Work at Columbia University by scholarship. It was here in New York that Magda and André met.[5]
André Trocmé married Magda Grilli in 1926. They had four children: Nelly, Jean-Pierre, Jacques, and Daniel. Trocmé's first post as a pastor was at Maubeuge in northern France, a town destroyed by the Great War.[4] Conscientious objection was a forbidden matter among pastors, though this did not stop Trocmé from supporting those of the town who refused conscription.[4] This reflected Trocmé's pacifism, which was not highly regarded in the Protestant faith.[4] The family stayed here for seven years, but by 1932 the dusty, polluted air began to take a toll on them. While in search of a new parish, Trocmé was turned down by the first two he had applied to. The third, Le Chambon, was more open to pacifists and admired his great faith.[4]
In 1938, Pastor André Trocmé and Reverend Edouard Theis founded the Ecole Nouvelle Cévenole, which later became Le Collège-Lycée Cévenol International, in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon. Its initial purpose was to prepare local country youngsters to enter the university.[6] When the refugees arrived, it also took in many Jewish young people wishing to continue their secondary education.
World War II
[edit]When France was overrun by Nazi Germany in 1940,[6] the mission to resist the Nazis became increasingly important. Believing in the same ideas as former Pastor Charles Guillon, André and Magda Trocmé became involved in a network organizing the rescue of Jews fleeing the deportation efforts of the Nazi implementation of their Final Solution. Following the establishment of the Vichy France regime, Trocmé and other area ministers serving other parishes encouraged their congregations to shelter "the people of the Bible" and for their cities to be a "city of refuge."[7] Trocmé was a catalyst whose efforts led to Le Chambon and surrounding villages becoming a unique haven in Nazi-occupied France. Trocmé and his church members helped their town develop ways of resisting the dominant force they faced. Together they established first one, and then a number of "safe houses" where Jewish and other refugees seeking to escape the Nazis could hide. These houses received contributions from the Quakers, the Salvation Army, the American Congregational Church, the pacifist movement Fellowship of Reconciliation, Jewish and Christian ecumenical groups, the French Protestant student organization Cimade and the Swiss organization Help to Children in order to house and buy food supplies for the fleeing refugees. Many refugees were helped to escape to Switzerland following an underground railroad network.
With the help of many dedicated people, families were located who were willing to accommodate Jewish refugees; members of the community reported to the railroad station to gather the arriving refugees, and the town's schools were prepared for the increased enrollment of new children, often under false names. Many village families and numerous farm families also took in children whose parents had been shipped to concentration camps in Germany. Trocmé refused to accept the definitions of those in power. "We do not know what a Jew is. We only know men", he said when asked by the Vichy authorities to produce a list of the Jews in the town.[8] Between 1940 and 1945 when World War II ended in Europe, it is now documented by researcher Muriel Rosenberg in her 2021 book Mais combien étaient-ils? that at least 2,000 Jewish refugees, including many children, were saved by the small village of Le Chambon and the communities on the surrounding plateau because the people refused to give in to what they considered to be the illegitimate legal, military and police power of the Nazis. (Earlier unsubstantiated estimates were 3,000 to 5,000 refugees were saved.)
These activities eventually came to the attention of the anti-Jewish Vichy regime. Authorities and "security agents" were sent to perform searches within the town, most of which were unsuccessful. One arrest by the Gestapo led to the death of several young Jewish men in deportation camps. The director of their residence La Maison des Roches, director Daniel Trocmé who was André's second cousin, refused to let the young adults put in his care to be sent away without him. He was arrested and later murdered in the Majdanek concentration camp. When Georges Lamirand, a minister in the Vichy government, made an official visit to Le Chambon on August 15, 1942, Trocmé expressed his opinions to him. Days later, the Vichy gendarmes were sent into the town to locate "illegal" aliens. Amidst rumors that Trocmé was soon to be arrested, he urged his parishioners to "do the will of God, not of men". He also spoke of the Biblical passage Deuteronomy 19:2–10, which speaks of the entitlement of the persecuted to shelter. The gendarmes were unsuccessful and left the town.
In February 1943, André Trocmé was arrested along with Edouard Theis and the public school headmaster Roger Darcissac. Sent to Saint-Paul d'Eyjeaux, a French internment camp near Limoges, they were released after four weeks and pressed to sign a commitment to obey all government orders. Trocmé and Theis refused but were nevertheless released. They went underground where Trocmé was still able to keep the rescue and sanctuary efforts running smoothly with the help of many friends and collaborators.[9]
Righteous Among the Nations |
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By country |
After the war, André Trocmé and his wife Magda served as co-secretaries for the International Fellowship of Reconciliation, Europe.[10] During the Algerian War, André and Magda set up the group Eirene in Morocco, with the aid of the Mennonites, to help French conscientious objectors.[10] They also advocated for the independence of Algeria from France, and demonstrated against the development of nuclear armaments in France. André and Magda were signatories of the agreement to convene a convention for drafting a world constitution.[11][12] In 1968, a World Constituent Assembly convened to draft and adopt the Constitution for the Federation of Earth.[13]
André spent his final years as a pastor of the Reformed Church in Geneva, where he died. Magda died in Paris. André and Magda are buried in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon.[1]
Legacy
[edit]In January 1971, the Holocaust memorial center in Israel, Yad Vashem, recognized André Trocmé as Righteous among the Nations. He died later that year in Geneva. In July 1986, Magda was also recognized. Several years later, Yad Vashem honored the village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon and the neighboring communities with an engraved stele erected in its memorial park. It was the second time Yad Vashem honored a whole community, the first time being the Dutch village of Nieuwlande in 1988.
André was the second cousin of Daniel Trocmé (1910–1944), who was involved in similar activities to rescue Jews from the Vichy government and died in the Majdanek concentration camp in April 1944. In March 1976, Yad Vashem likewise recognized Daniel as Righteous among the Nations.[14]
Magda Trocmé was the guest of French radio program Les Chemins d'une Vie (Paths of a Life) recorded by Christian Lassalas for FR3 Auvergne Radio (April 1982 – 90 min).
The Plateau Vivarais-Lignon and Le Chambon-sur-Lignon have become a symbol of the rescue of Jews in France during World War II.
As historians continue to examine events during the German occupation and Vichy rule, several longstanding disputes have emerged. In the case of the Plateau Vivarais-Lignon and Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, they include whether the interpretations based on Trocmé's writings are complete or correct. Those issues are objectively addressed in Robert Paxton's Vichy France: Old Guard and New Order (1972) and in Patrick Henry's book, We Only Know Men: The Rescue of Jews in France During the Holocaust (2013). Meanwhile, Richard Unsworth's A Portrait of Pacifists: Le Chambon, the Holocaust, and the Lives of André and Magda Trocmé (2012) provides a thorough exploration of the roles and writings of the Trocmés. While Caroline Moorehead's Village of Secrets (2014) also examines the events on the Plateau Vivarais-Lignon and in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, other authors, historians and documentary filmmakers believe that that book presents a biased and inaccurate view of what took place.[citation needed]
Quotes
[edit]See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b "André Trocmé and Magda Trocmé Papers, 1919–date". Swarthmore College. Archived from the original on 8 October 2010.
- ^ a b c Zuccotti, Susan (2014). "A Portrait of Pacifists: Le Chambon, the Holocaust, and the Lives of André and Magda Trocmé". Peace & Change. 39: 276–278. doi:10.1111/pech.12070. ISSN 0149-0508 – via Academic Search Ultimate.
- ^ a b c d e f g Batten, Alicia J (2010-07-03). "Reading the Bible in occupied France: André Trocmé and Le Chambon". Harvard Theological Review. 103 (3): 309–328. doi:10.1017/S0017816010000659. ISSN 0017-8160 – via Atla Religion Database.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Moorehead, Caroline (2014). Village of Secrets. HarperCollins. pp. 112–118. ISBN 978-0-06-220247-5.
- ^ a b c d Fox, Deborah (2006). "Magda Trocmé: A Mother Responds, "Hineni!"". Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies. 24 (3): 91–95. ISSN 0882-8539 – via Academic Search Ultimate.
- ^ a b Sunshine, Glenn (2016-04-25). "André and Magda Trocmé and the Village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon". www.breakpoint.org. Retrieved 2023-04-25.
- ^ Atwood, Kathryn J. (2011). Women Heroes of World War II. Chicago: Chicago Review Press. p. 83. ISBN 9781556529610.
- ^ Hallie 1979, p. 103.
- ^ Pacifism in the Twentieth Century, by Peter Brock and Nigel Young. Syracuse University Press, New York, 1999 ISBN 0-8156-8125-9 (p. 220)
- ^ a b Charles E. Moore, "Introduction" to André Trocmé Jesus and the Nonviolent Revolution. Orbis Books, 2004. ISBN 1570755388 (pp. ix–xvii).
- ^ "Letters from Thane Read asking Helen Keller to sign the World Constitution for world peace. 1961". Helen Keller Archive. American Foundation for the Blind. Retrieved 2023-07-01.
- ^ "Letter from World Constitution Coordinating Committee to Helen, enclosing current materials". Helen Keller Archive. American Foundation for the Blind. Retrieved 2023-07-03.
- ^ "Preparing earth constitution | Global Strategies & Solutions | The Encyclopedia of World Problems". The Encyclopedia of World Problems | Union of International Associations (UIA). Retrieved 2023-07-15.
- ^ "The Village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon: André & Magda Trocmé, Daniel Trocmé". Righteous among the nations. 2013. Archived from the original on 2015-11-20. Retrieved 2013-04-15.
- ^ Volf & Bass 2001, p. 158.
- ^ Hallie 1979, p. 85.
Relevant literature
[edit]- Hallie, Philip P (1979), Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed: The Story of Le Chambon and How Goodness Happened There, New York: Harper & Row, ISBN 0-06-011701-X.
- Lambert, Carole. Against Indifference: Four Christian Responses to Jewish Suffering during the Holocaust: C. S. Lewis, Thomas Merton, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, André and Magda Trocmé. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2015.
- Volf, Miroslav; Bass, Dorothy C. (2001), Practicing Theology: Beliefs and Practices in Christian Life, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, ISBN 978-0-8028-4931-1.
- Romain Gary Les Cerfs-volants, 1980 (translated as The Kites, 2017)
External links
[edit]- The Chambon Foundation
- Richard Unsworth, A Portrait of Pacifists: Le Chambon, the Holocaust, and the Lives of André and Magda Trocmé, Syracuse University Press, 2012.
- André and Magda Trocmé, Swarthmore College Peace Collection, archived from the original on 2010-10-08, retrieved 2008-07-06.
- Trocmé, André (2004) [Orbis Books, 1961], Moore, Charles E. (ed.), Jesus and the Nonviolent Revolution, Framington, PA: Plough Publishing.
- A Good Place to Hide by Peter Grose, a compellingly-written, accurate (fact-checked by numerous historians and André and Magda's daughter, Nelly Trocmé Hewett) account of how 2,000+ refugees were saved by Huguenot farmers on the Plateau Vivarais-Lignon during WWII. (Pegasus Books, 2015, http://pegasusbooks.com/books/a-good-place-to-hide-9781605986920-hardcover )
- We Only Know Men by Patrick Henry, a thoroughly researched and referenced book that tells the stories of some of the courageous rescuers on the Plateau Vivarais-Lignon, who by instinct protected the oppressed and the helpless without first asking the question "Why?" (Catholic University of America Press, 2007, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1342636.We_Only_Know_Men )
- Sauvage, Pierre (1989). Weapons of the Spirit (Les armes de l'esprit). US/France: Chambon Foundation.[permanent dead link ] Documentary. Aired in the US by the PBS.
- Trocmé, André, Yad Vashem.
- Best, Elizabeth Kirkley, Le Chambon, Shoah education[permanent dead link ].
- Pastor André Trocmé, The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, archived from the original on 2011-07-23, retrieved 2008-06-20.
- "A French Town's Story", The New York Times, 30 October 1999.
- Trippett, Frank (May 21, 1979), "Good Neighbors", Time, archived from the original on September 30, 2007.
- Whosoever Saves a Single Life... (bibliography), Heart has reasons, archived from the original on 2013-10-26, retrieved 2006-01-01.