Village of Secrets

August 18, 2014
British historian and biographer Moorehead (A Train in Winter) offers an informative, comprehensive, and nuanced account of why and how the French village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon hid hundreds of Jews during the Holocaust. Moorehead addresses the agonies mothers suffered at the French internment camps of Gurs and Rivesaltes when they gave up their children to be hidden; the fact that, as early as the fall of 1942, flyers in Paris concerning the deportation of Jews “spoke of the gassing of the weak and elderly”; and the role of the Darbyists, an austere, evangelical Protestant sect, in the hiding of Jews. Moorehead introduces readers to courageous rescuers both in Le Chambon and the surrounding region: Protestant pastor André Trocmé; master document-forger Oscar Rosowsky; and Moussa Abadi, a Syrian Jew who befriended the bishop of Nice (from whom he obtained an office to forge life-saving documents). She also covers the German capture of key individuals such as Madeleine Dreyfus, who helped Jewish children find refuge, and examines the ambiguous role played figures such as Major Schmähling, who commanded the local German garrison. Moorehead’s deeply researched, crisply written, and well-paced work will stand as the definitive account of a heroic, hazardous, and uplifting initiative during the German occupation. B&w photos

October 15, 2014

For the small village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, World War II was both a terrifying and exhilarating time. Living in the remote mountainous region of eastern France, the village's historically Huguenot population was not unfamiliar with religious persecution. When the dispossessed of Europe--including Jewish refugees and orphans, as well as escaping prisoners of war and French Resistance fighters--began, in 1942, to find their way to Le Chambon and its environs, they found protection and safety from Nazi capture. Protestant pastors and villagers provided fugitives with shelter, schooling, food, false identities, secure hiding places, and occasional escape to Switzerland. Because of its extraordinary bravery, the village is recognized by Yad Vashem, the World Center for Holocaust Research, as one of their "Righteous Among Nations." Based on interviews with survivors and relatives and extensive archival research, activist Morehead (A Train in Winter) skillfully describes both the "felicitous combination of timing, place and people" in addition to the myth that has grown up around the events that took place there. VERDICT An exciting history of nearly forgotten individual and group courage. Highly recommended.--Linda Frederiksen, Washington State Univ. Lib., Vancouver

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