Pastor André Trocmé


Book Description

Depicts the efforts of one village in France, under the spiritual guidance of Andrâe Trocmâe, to protect thousands of Jewish refugees during World War II.




Magda and André Trocmé


Book Description

Magda Trocmé (1901-1996) was the Italian-born wife of Reverend André Trocmé (1901-1971), a French pastor deeply involved in the social gospel movement that saw Christianity embedded in progressive political struggles. Together, they worked heroically, and under dangerous circumstances, to prevent the deportation of thousands of people to Nazi concentration camps. Living in the small, mainly Protestant town of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon on the Plateau Vivarais-Lignon in southern France, Magda and André Trocmé inspired a network of resistance to the Vichy regime's deportation of Jews and would eventually be honoured as "Righteous Among the Nations" by the state of Israel. This book includes a mosaic of sermons, letters, published articles, diaries, and speeches from the war years, but also before and after, extending from the 1920s to the 1970s. The couple travelled widely after the war, meeting with the likes of Martin Luther King Jr, Indira Gandhi, Elie Wiesel, and Rosa Parks, and played an active role in movements for anti-colonialism, nuclear disarmament, and peace. Appearing for the first time in English, these texts have been selected by Pierre Boismorand, who offers bridging commentary and explanatory notes throughout. Through a diverse range of public, private, and autobiographical documents, the reader enters the heart of this remarkable couple's motivations, hopes, and also their unfulfilled dreams. André and Magda Trocmé lived through a troubled time with conviction, courage, and dignity - their writings provide a powerful example of an unyielding dedication to justice and peaceful resistance.




Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed


Book Description

During the most terrible years of World War II, when inhumanity and political insanity held most of the world in their grip and the Nazi domination of Europe seemed irrevocable and unchallenged, a miraculous event took place in a small Protestant town in southern France called Le Chambon. There, quietly, peacefully, and in full view of the Vichy government and a nearby division of the Nazi SS, Le Chambon's villagers and their clergy organized to save thousands of Jewish children and adults from certain death.




Angels and Donkeys


Book Description

A collection of tales, many based on stories from the Bible, told by the author, a French minister, around the huge Christmas tree in the church in Le Chambon sur Lignon.




Love in a Time of Hate


Book Description

Love in a Time of Hate tells the gripping tale of Magda and André Trocmé, the couple that transformed a small town in the mountains of southern France into a place of safety during the Holocaust. At great risk to their own lives, the Trocmés led efforts in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon to hide more than three thousand Jewish children and adults who were fleeing the Nazis. In this astonishing story of courage, romance, and resistance, learn what prompted André and Magda to risk everything for the sake of strangers who showed up at their door. Building on the story told in Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed, German journalist Hanna Schott portrays a vivid story of resisting evil and sheltering refugees with striking resonance for today. Free downloadable study guide available here.




Jesus and the Nonviolent Revolution


Book Description

André Trocmé of Le Chambon is famous for his role in saving thousands of Jews from the Nazis during World War II. But his bold deeds did not spring from a void. They were rooted in his understanding of Jesus’ way of nonviolence – an understanding that gave him the remarkable insights contained in this long out-of-print classic. In this book, you’ll encounter a Jesus you may have never met before – a Jesus who not only calls for spiritual transformation, but for practical changes that answer the most perplexing political, economic, and social problems of our time.




Easter Stories


Book Description

Everyone who believes Easter is about more than bunnies and eggs will be grateful for this new collection of short stories that shed light on the deeper meaning of the season. Selected for their spiritual value and literary quality, these classic tales capture the spirit of Easter in a way that will captivate readers of all ages. Easter Stories includes time-honored favorites from world-famous storytellers such as C.S. Lewis, Leo Tolstoy, Selma Lagerlof, Oscar Wilde, Elizabeth Goudge, Maxim Gorky, Ruth Sawyer, and Walter Wangerin as well as many you've never heard before.




The Plateau


Book Description

Winner of the American Library in Paris Book Award Named a Best Book of 2019 by BookPage During World War II, French villagers offered safe harbor to countless strangers—mostly children—as they fled for their lives. The same place offers refuge to migrants today. Why? In a remote pocket of Nazi-held France, ordinary people risked their lives to rescue many hundreds of strangers, mostly Jewish children. Was this a fluke of history, or something more? Anthropologist Maggie Paxson, certainties shaken by years of studying strife, arrives on the Plateau to explore this phenomenon: What are the traits that make a group choose selflessness? In this beautiful, wind-blown place, Paxson discovers a tradition of offering refuge that dates back centuries. But it is the story of a distant relative that provides the beacon for which she has been searching. Restless and idealistic, Daniel Trocmé had found a life of meaning and purpose—or it found him—sheltering a group of children on the Plateau, until the Holocaust came for him, too. Paxson's journey into past and present turns up new answers, new questions, and a renewed faith in the possibilities for us all, in an age when global conflict has set millions adrift. Riveting, multilayered, and intensely personal, The Plateau is a deeply inspiring journey into the central conundrum of our time.




Village of Secrets


Book Description

A SUNDAY TIMES TOP FIVE BESTSELLER SHORTLISTED FOR THE SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE 2014 From the author of the New York Times bestseller A Train in Winter comes the extraordinary story of a French village that helped save thousands who were pursued by the Gestapo during World War II. High up in the mountains of the southern Massif Central in France lies a cluster of tiny, remote villages united by a long and particular history. During the Nazi occupation, the inhabitants of the Plateau Vivarais Lignon saved several thousand people from the concentration camps. As the victims of Nazi persecution flooded in – resisters, freemasons, communists and Jews, many of them children – the villagers united to keep them safe. The story of why and how these villages came to save so many people has never been fully told. But several of the remarkable architects of the mission are still alive, as are a number of those they saved. Caroline Moorehead has sought out and interviewed many of the people involved in this extraordinary undertaking, and brings us their unforgettable testimonies. It is a story of courage and determination, of a small number of heroic individuals who risked their lives to save others, and of what can be done when people come together to oppose tyranny.




Village of Scoundrels


Book Description

Based on the true story of the French villagers in WWII who saved thousands of Jews, this novel tells how a group of young teenagers stood up for what is right. Among them is a young Jewish boy who learns to forge documents to save his mother and later goes on to save hundreds of lives with his forgery skills. There is also a girl who overcomes her fear to carry messages for the Resistance. And a boy who smuggles people into Switzerland. But there is always the threat that they will be caught: A policeman is sent to keep an eye on them, German soldiers reside in a local hotel, and eventually the Gestapo arrives, armed with guns and a list of names. As the knot tightens, the young people must race against time to bring their friends to safety.