by Peter Grose
54 Planchon went on to become one of France’s most distinguished film and stage directors.
55 There have been suggestions that Neukirchen was a Gestapo officer rather than a regular soldier. That is incorrect: he was from the Feldgendarmerie, the German military police.
56 For French grammarians: fichés is, of course, the past participle plural of the French verb ficher, to file. But the literal translation ‘fileds’ is too horrible to contemplate.
57 Anybody reading this book and involved in modern law enforcement can take some comfort from an email Oscar Rosowsky sent me in November 2013. He wrote that the forgery results he achieved during World War II would be impossible in the digital age. ‘Each French citizen has a 13-digit identification number,’ he told me, ‘and within the almost infinite combination of numbers there is an almost infinite combination of characteristics. It is possible to extract instantly the information needed [to identify somebody] from this number.’
58 Lest the Swiss get too pleased with themselves over this performance, it should also be pointed out that they turned away slightly more refugees than they sheltered.
59 Serge Klarsfeld went on to become one of the most important historians of the Holocaust in France, as well as a doughty Nazi-hunter. So his testimony in favour of Schmähling carries a lot of weight.
60 As joint-editor in 1961 (with Richard Walsh, the publisher of this book) of the University of Sydney student newspaper honi soit, I can remember making very sure that any student peace organisations we supported were not communist fronts. During this time, anyone calling for ‘peace’ risked being lumped in with ‘fellow travellers’ (inadvertent or unconscious communist supporters), or even regarded as one of Stalin’s ‘useful idiots’.
61 The Knights Templar enjoyed a certain recent notoriety after the 2003 publication of Dan Brown’s international blockbuster The Da Vinci Code. Anyone interested in a more historically accurate and less far-fetched account of their story would do better to read Clive Lindley’s novel Templar Knights: Their secret history—The end of an epoch 1307–1314, published in June 2012 as an ebook and available through Amazon.
62 The fact that St Bartholomew’s Day falls on 24 August every year is one of those little mysteries of history.
63 Some sources put the number at as high as 20,000, but 3000 is the most commonly quoted figure.
64 The French Nationality Law of 1889 laid down the same rules. It reaffirmed the right of return of those driven out of France for religious reasons, a right which extended to their descendants. The law continued in force until 19 October 1945, when the first postwar French government revoked it.
65 For the record, this solidarity has slipped a little in the twenty-first century. In the second round of the 2012 French presidential election, Le Chambon voted 56.5% for François Hollande, the Socialist candidate and eventual winner, against 43.5% for Nicolas Sarkozy, the centre-right Gaullist incumbent. In the first round, 183 Chambonnais (11.2%) even voted for Marine Le Pen, the candidate of the far-right National Front. In the election for the National Assembly held in June 2012, in the second round the UMP (Gaullist centre-right) candidate Laurent Wauquiez (son of the current mayor of Le Chambon) collected 59.3% of the vote, defeating the Socialist Party’s Guy Vocanson (40.7%).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books
English language
Camus, A. (trans. R. Buss), The Plague, Allen Lane The Penguin Press, London, 2001
DeSaix, D.D. and Ruelle, K.G., Hidden on the Mountain: Stories of children sheltered from the Nazis in Le Chambon, Holiday House, New York, 2007
Hallie, P., Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed, Harper & Rowe, New York, 1979
Henry, P., We Only Know Men: The rescue of Jews in France during the Holocaust, Catholic University of America Press, Washington DC, 2007
Lecomte, F., I Will Never Be 14 Years Old, Beach Lloyd Publishers, Wayne, PA, 2009
Mercer, D. (editor-in-chief), Chronicle of the 20th Century, Longman, London, 1989
Roberts, A., The Storm of War: A new history of the Second World War, Allen Lane, London, and HarperCollins, New York, 2009
Trocmé, A. (trans. N. Trocmé Hewett), Angels and Donkeys: Tales for Christmas and other times, Good Books, Intercourse, PA, 1998
Unsworth, R.P., A Portrait of Pacifists, Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, NY, 2012
Verity, H., We Landed by Moonlight: The secret RAF landings in France 1940–1944, Ian Allen Limited, London, 1978; revised edition, Crécy Publishing Limited, Manchester, 2000
Weisberg, R.H., Vichy Law and the Holocaust in France, New York University Press, New York, 1996
French language
Boismorand, P., Magda et André Trocmé: Figures de resistances, Les Éditions du Cerf, Paris, 2007
Bolle, P. (ed.), Le Plateau Vivarais-Lignon: Accueil et résistance 1939–1944, Société d’Histoire de la Montagne, Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, 1992
Bollon, G., Le Chambon-sur-Lignon d’hier & d’aujourd’hui, Éditions Dolmazon, Le Cheylard, 1999
——Les villages sur la Montagne: Entre Ardèche et Haute-Loire, le Plateau, terre d’accueil et de refuge, Éditions Dolmazon, Le Cheylard, 2004
Bollon, G. and Flaud, A., Paroles de réfugiés, Paroles de justes, Éditions Dolmazon, Le Cheylard, 2009
Boulet, François F., Histoire de la Montagne-refuge, Les Éditions du Roure, Polignac, 2008
Cabanel, P., Joutard, P., Sémelin, J. and Wieviorka, A. (eds), La Montagne refuge: Accueil et sauvetage des juifs autour du Chambon-sur-Lignon, Albin Michel, Paris, 2013
D’Aubigne, J.M., Fabre, E.C., Mouchon, V., Les clandestins de Dieu: Cimade 1939–1945, Labor and Fides, Geneva, 1968
Fayol, P., Le Chambon-sur-Lignon sous l’occupation: Les résistances locales, l’aide interalliée, l’action de Virginia Hall (O.S.S.), Édition L’Harmattan, Paris, 1990
Gril-Mariotte, A. (ed.), Lieu de mémoire au Chambon/Lignon: Le Plateau, terre d’accueil et de refuge, Éditions Dolmazon, Le Cheylard, 2013
Henry, P.G., La montagne des justes: Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, 1940–1944, Éditions Privat, Toulouse, 2010
Société d’Histoire de la Montagne, Les résistances sur le Plateau Vivarais-Lignon, 1938–1945, Témoins, témoignages et lieux de mémoire, Les oubliés de l’Histoire parlent, Éditions du Roure, Polignac, 2005
Film and television documentaries
The Nazis: A warning from history, Laurence Rees and Tilman Remme (directors), BBC TV, 1997
Shoah, Claude Lanzmann (director), Historia, Les Films Aleph, Ministère de la Culture de la République Française, 1985
The Sorrow and the Pity, Marcel Ophuls (director), Télévision Rencontre, Norddeutscher Rundfunk, Télévision Suisse-Romande, 1969
Three Righteous Christians, Pierre Sauvage (director), Chambon Foundation, 2014
Weapons of the Spirit, Pierre Sauvage (director), Chambon Foundation, 1989, re-mastered 2014
Le Chambon village covered in snow. There is no accurate date for this picture, but it was probably taken in the winter of 1941-42. Roger Darcissac collection, courtesy Lieu de Memoire, Le Chambon-sur-Lignon
A tourist poster from 1926 reads: ‘Protestants, take your holidays in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon. Courtesy Lieu de Memoire, Le Chambon-sur-Lignon
A young André Trocmé displaying film star good looks. Courtesy Nelly Trocmé Hewitt
Magda Trocmé around the time of her marriage. Courtesy Nelly Trocmé Hewitt
André Trocmé in his French Army uniform, probably in 1922. The young pacifist is in the centre of the middle row, holding a cup. Courtesy Nelly Trocmé Hewitt
Left to right: Nelly Trocmé, Marco Darcissac and Catherine Cambessédès photographed in Le Chambon in wartime. A younger Marco appears on the cover of this book. Courtesy Catherine Cambessédès
Hanne Hirsch Courtesy Hanne Liebmann
Charles Guillon Courtesy Lieu de Mémoire, Le Chambon-sur-Lignon
André and Mireille Philip. Mireille Philip moved to Le Chambon shortly
after the German occupation of France in June 1942. She was an active forger and Resistance worker. André Philip, an elected deputy in the French National Assembly, joined General de Gaulle’s government-in-exile in London. Courtesy Lieu de Mémoire, Le Chambon-sur-Lignon
One of Oscar Rosowsky’s forged identity cards, this time for himself as Jean-Claude Plunne. For puzzled readers of French, Oscar’s hair colour (‘Cheveux’) is not ‘cat’ (‘chat’) but ‘chestnut’ (‘châtaigne’, abbreviated). Note the detailed interest in the size of his nose (‘Nez’), supposedly a giveaway of Jewishness. Oscar modestly put his size as ‘moy’, short for ‘moyenne’ (medium). Courtesy Oscar Rosowsky
The Héritier barn, where Oscar Rosowsky had his forgery bureau. Oscar and Sammy Charles lived and worked behind the low white door on the left. Dr and Madame Cambessédès rented the large house across the street, beyond the white gate, and Catherine stayed there for the early part of the war. Contemporary photograph by the author
Refugees arriving by train at Le Chambon railway station. Roger Darcissac collection, courtesy Lieu de Mémoire, Le Chambon-sur-Lignon
Gurs internment camp. Those who survived it remember terrible food, disease, rats, and above all, mud. Each of these small huts was supposed to accommodate 60 people. Photographer unknown
La Guespy (The Wasps Nest) was the first shelter for children ‘transferred’ from Vichy French internment camps to Le Chambon. This photograph appears to have been taken around the time La Guespy opened, in May 1941. Courtesy Mémorial de la Shoah, Paris
L’Abric (The Shelter), another of the guesthouses in Le Chambon. Archives of Contemporary History, ETH Zurich, NL August Bohny-Reiter
The children’s guest house Tante Soly sheltered 15 to 20 children at a time, mostly Jewish. German soldiers were in the habit of taking cover from the rain under the little balcony near the gate. Contemporary photograph by the author
La Maison des Roches (House of Rocks) Contemporary photograph by the author
Beau-Soleil (Lovely Sunshine) Contemporary photograph by the author
Winter on the Plateau, 1942–43. Roger Darcissac collection, courtesy Lieu de Mémoire, Le Chambon-sur-Lignon
Teachers at the New Cévenole School. Third from right, standing, Magda Trocmé, who taught Italian; fourth from right, standing, Jacqueline Decourdemanche, school secretary and active forger; fourth from right, seated, Hilde Hoefert, who taught German and has some claim to being the first Jewish refugee in the village. She arrived from Vienna in 1938 after Hitler annexed Austria. Roger Darcissac collection, courtesy Lieu de Mémoire, Le Chambon-sur-Lignon
School play at the New Cévenole School during wartime, precise date unknown. Courtesy Catherine Cambessédès
Kid’s sack race on school Sports Day. Roger Darcissac collection, courtesy Lieu de Mémoire, Le Chambon-sur-Lignon
Jewish children dancing the Hora in the woods near Le Chambon. Courtesy Chambon Foundation, Los Angeles
A wartime Christmas in the Protestant Temple, Le Chambon. Roger Darcissac, courtesy Lieu de Mémoire, Le Chambon-sur-Lignon
George Lamirand addresses the youth of Le Chambon. Note the quasi-military dress, unnecessary for a civilian minister. The uniformed figure to the right of Lamirand is Robert Bach, Prefect of the Haute-Loire. Collection Roger Darcissac, courtesy Lieu de Mémoire, Le Chambon-sur-Lignon
Inside the internment camp at Saint-Paul d’Eyieaux. Left to right: édouard Theis, Roger Darcissac, André Trocmé. Collection Roger Darcissac, courtesy Lieu de Mémoire, Le Chambon-sur-Lignon
Boy Scout camp at Domino on the Île d’Oléron, 1919. André Trocmé (far right) was embarrassed to find himself ‘wearing only a bathing suit and exposing my body to the burning sun’. Courtesy Nelly Trocmé Hewitt
Pierre Fayol Courtesy Lieu de Memoire, Le Chambon-sur-Lignon
Pierre Piton Haute-Loire departmental archive, Pierre Piton collection
Virginia Hall Courtesy Lieu de Memoire, Le Chambon-sur-Lignon
Julius Schmähling as a prisoner-of-war Courtesy Lieu de Memoire, Le Chambon-sur-Lignon
YP company of the FFI (French Forces of the Interior): ‘Y’ for Yssingeaux, ‘P’ for parachutage, a reference to the parachute drops which took place at Villelonge, near Yssingeaux. The female figure in the centre is Virginia Hall. Collection Roger Darcissac, courtesy Lieu de Mémoire, Le Chambon-sur-Lignon
Parachute drop of arms. Each canister also contained a packet of tea marked ‘Diane’, intended for Virginia Hall. Collection Roger Darcissac, courtesy Lieu de Mémoire, Le Chambon-sur-Lignon
The wrecked train and bridge at Chamalières. As this was a single line railway, the attack effectively blocked the rail route to Saint-étienne and Lyon. Courtesy éditions L’Harmattan, Paris
Surrender of German troops at Estivareilles on 22 August 1944. Private collection, courtesy Musée d’histoire du 20e siècle, Estivareilles
Liberation of Le Chambon, 3 September 1944. Troops from the Free French Army of General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny receive a warm welcome as they pass through the village. Collection Roger Darcissac, courtesy Lieu de Mémoire, Le Chambon-sur-Lignon
Table of Contents
Cover Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
Maps
Introduction
Prologue
Part I Preparation
1 Pastors
2 War
3 Camps
Part II Refuge
4 Jews
5 Fun
6 Rebellion
Part III Occupation
7 Fresh Blood
8 Forgers
9 Arrest
10 Switzerland
11 Smugglers
12 Germans
Part IV Resistance
13 Violence
14 Invasion
Part V Liberation
15 Guns
16 Victory
Conclusion
Whatever Happened to … ?
Appendix 1: Huguenots
Appendix 2: The Weapons of the Spirit
Author’s note
Acknowledgements
Notes
Bibliography
