Residents have been primarily Huguenot or Protestant since the 17th century. During World War II these Huguenot residents made the commune a haven for Jews fleeing from the Nazis. They hid them both within the town and in the countryside, and helped them flee to neutral Switzerland. In 1990 the town was one of two collectively honoured as the Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in Israel for saving Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe. The other awardee was the Dutch village of Nieuwlande.
The town lies in the middle of the commune, on the right bank of the Lignon du Velay, which flows north-northwestward through the commune and forms part of its northwestern border.
During World War II, throughout France, the Nazis and the collaborationist Vichy regime were rounding up Jews and sending them to the death camps.
Under the leadership of local Protestant minister Pastor André Trocmé, and his deputy pastor Edouard Theis [fr], the citizens of the village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon risked their lives to rescue and hide Jews in private homes, on farms in the area, as well as in public institutions. Whenever the Nazi patrols came searching, the Jews were hidden in the mountainous 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." The situation took a more tense turn when the Germans invaded the South Zone in 1942. Local people continued to protect the Jews in open defiance of the authorities. For instance, they gave Vichy Youth Minister Georges Lamirand [fr] a petition against the deportation of the Jews when he visited the village in 1942.[3][4]
In addition to providing shelter, the citizens of the town obtained forged identification and ration cards for Jews to use. They helped them cross the border to the safety of neutral Switzerland. Some of the residents were arrested by the Gestapo such as Rev. Trocmé's cousin, Daniel Trocmé, who was sent to Maidanekconcentration camp, where he was murdered.
It was estimated that the people of the area of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon saved between 3,000 and 5,000 Jews from certain death.
In 1981 the entire town was awarded an honorary degree by Haverford College in Pennsylvania in recognition of its humanitarian efforts.
In 1982, documentary filmmaker Pierre Sauvage – who was born and sheltered in Le Chambon – returned there to film Weapons of the Spirit[9] (1989).
In 1990, for risking their lives to rescue Jews, the entire town was recognized as "Righteous Among the Nations". A small garden and plaque on the grounds of the Yad Vashem memorial to the Holocaust in Israel was dedicated to the people of Chambon-sur-Lignon.
In 2004 French President Jacques Chirac officially recognized the heroism of the town.[10][11]
The Pont-de-Mars Castle in Le Chambon-sur-LignonIn January 2007 they were honoured along with the other French Righteous Among the Nations in a ceremony at the Panthéon in Paris.[10]
Eric Schwam, an Austrian man who fled the Nazis with his family during the Second World War and found refuge in the village, bequeathed approximately €2 million for the village.[12]
The town of Chambon-sur-Lignon was home to Le Collège-Lycée Cévenol International, a private boarding school founded in 1938 by local Protestant ministers André Trocmé and Edouard Theis. The school closed its doors in 2014 due to financial troubles and declining enrollment, three years after the rape and murder of a 14-year-old student.[13]
Malcolm Gladwell uses Chambon-sur-Lignon in his book David and Goliath as an example of how the rebellious origin of its people influenced their actions when protecting Jewish people during the Second World War.[15] The town also appears in the last book French author Romain Gary published before his death, The Kites, and recounts the bravery of its inhabitants in the face of danger. In R.J. Palacio'sWhite Bird, Le Chambon-sur-Lignon is the inspiration for the fictional town of Aubervilliers-aux-Bois.
Grose, Peter (2015). A Good Place to Hide: How One French Community Saved Thousands Of Lives During World War II. New York: Pegasus Books LLC. ISBN978-1-60598-692-0.
Hallie, Philip P (1979). Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed: The Story of Le Chambon and How Goodness Happened There. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN0-06-011701-X.
Paxson, Maggie (2019). The Plateau. New York: Riverhead Press. ISBN9781594634758.
Sémelin, Jacques (2013). Persécutions et entraides dans la France occupée : comment 75 % des juifs de France ont échappé à la mort (in French). Paris: Seuil Arènes. ISBN978-2-35204-235-8.
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