a huguenot heartbeat in a rotting corpse endured the stench of cowardicele chambon-sur-lignon shamed catholic vichy france saved five thousand jews defied collaborators germans joined the righteous andré trocmé eduoard theis roger darcissac pastors and teacher helped by rebel priests villagers with folk memory of stout forebears who died as galley slaves beyond marseille discomfiting ghosts names mostly lost to hollow pride and arrogance now its left to foreigners to declare respect to daniel trocmé gassed in poland URL: www.mourne.org/huguenot.htm |
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia):
Le Chambon-sur-Lignon is a town and commune in the Haute-Loire département in the Auvergne région of southern France. Population (1999): 2,834.
Primarily a Huguenot town, it became a haven for Jews fleeing from the Nazis during World War II.
With the leadership of a local minister André Trocmé and his wife, Magda Trocmé, beginning in 1942, the citizens of Chambon-sur-Lignon risked their lives to hide Jews who were being rounded up by the Nazi SS for shipment to the death camps. They were hidden in private homes, on farms in the area, as well as in public institutions. Whenever the Nazi patrols came searching, they were hidden in the countryside. After the war, one of the villagers recalled: "As soon as the soldiers left, we would go into the forest and sing a song. When they heard that song, the Jews knew it was safe to come home."
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