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    Old wooden type on a wooden shelf

    André Trocmé

    AndreTrocme
    • Pastor and apostle of nonviolence
    • Sheltered hundreds of Jews from the Nazis
    • Recognized by Yad Vashem as “Righteous among the Nations”
    • Secretary of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation
    When France surrendered to the Nazis in 1940 it agreed to arrest and deport any German refugees. The villagers of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, who had formed a rescue network to take in and hide Jewish refugees, refused to accept this mandate. The Protestant pastor of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, André Trocmé (1901–1971), along with his co-worker Edouard Theis, encouraged his parishioners to resist the orders of the state whenever these demanded actions incompatible with their moral convictions. “We shall resist whenever our adversaries demand of us obedience contrary to the orders of the gospel,” said Trocmé in a sermon the day after the German invasion of France.  Read Full Biography

    Trocmé had a privileged childhood and at a young age found a strong, personal faith that stayed with him throughout his life. What he saw of the injustice and pointlessness of war during World War I persuaded him that a life of nonviolence was the only truly Christian way. Trocmé was threatened, arrested, and forced into hiding because of his civil disobedience, but the shield of resistance wielded by the villages in the area succeeded in protecting the lives of around 2,500 Jews and other refugees. After World War II, Trocmé became a leading voice for pacifism and reconciliation, working for peace in Algeria and Morocco and serving as European secretary of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation for about twelve years. He wrote two books, published in English as The Politics of Repentance and Jesus and the Nonviolent Revolution.

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