Andr Trocm

French pastor, active in the French Resistance, known for protecting Jews from Nazi persecution during the Holocaust. He was protestant pastor in the town of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, in south-central France. He had been sent to the rather remote parish because of his 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 neighbouring Germany and urged his Protestant Huguenot congregation to hide Jewish refugees from the Holocaust of the World War II. 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 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. Between 1940 and 1945 when World War II ended in Europe, it is estimated that about 3500 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. In February 1943, André Trocmé was arrested. Sent to Saint-Paul dEyjeaux, an internment camp near Limoges, he was released after four weeks and pressed to sign a commitment to obey all government orders. Trocmé refused and was nevertheless released. He went underground where he was still able to keep the rescue and sanctuary efforts running smoothly with the help of many friends and collaborators. After the war, Trocmé served as European secretary for the International Fellowship of Reconciliation. During the Algerian War, André and his wife Magda set up the group Eirene in Morocco with the aid of the Mennonites, to help French conscientious objectors. André spent his final years as a pastor of a Reformed Church in Geneva, where he died on 5 June 1971 at age 70. Link to Wikipedia biography Read less