A Portrait of Pacifists: Le Chambon, the Holocaust, and the Lives of André and Magda Trocmé

by Richard P. Unsworth

Overview

This biography tells the story of André and Magda Trocmé, two individuals who made nonviolence a way of life. During World War II, the southern French town of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon and its surrounding villages became a center where Jews and others in flight from Nazi roundups could be hidden or led abroad, and where children with parents in concentration camps could be nurtured and educated. The Trocmés' courage during World War II has been well documented in books and film, yet the full arc of their lives-the impulse that led them to devote themselves to nonviolence and their extensive work in the decades following the war-has never been compiled into a full-length biography. Based on the Trocmés' unpublished memoirs, interviews, and the author's research, the book details the couple's role in the history of pacifism before, during, and after the war. Unsworth traces their mission of building peace by nonviolence throughout Europe to Morocco, Algeria, Japan, Vietnam, and the United States. Analyzing the political and religious complexities of the pacifist movement, the author underscores the Trocmés' deeply personal commitment. Regardless of which nation was condoning violence, shaping international relations, or pressing for peace, and regardless of whose theology dominated the pulpits, both André and Magda remained driven by conscience to make nonviolence the hallmark of their life's work.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780815609704
Publisher:	Syracuse University Press
Publication date:	04/27/2012
Series:	Religion, Theology and the Holocaust
Pages:	358
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Richard P. Unsworth is a senior fellow at the Kahn Liberal Arts Institute at Smith College. He has taught religion at Smith College and Dartmouth College, and served as headmaster and president of Northfield Mount Hermon School. His years of involvement with the Collège Cévenol in France led to a friendship with André and Magda Trocmé.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

Foreword Peter I. Rose xi

Acknowledgments xvii

Author's Note on the Memoirs xix

Introduction: Pacifism in the Twentieth Century xxi

Abbreviations and Terms xxv

1 Remembering: June 1971 1

2 Life after June 5 16

3 Pacifism Discovered 26

4 Fathers and Sons 40

5 Out of Siberia 52

6 A Renegade Gentleman 66

7 The Military Misadventure 83

8 The Turnaround Year 101

9 Real Church, Actual Church 115

10 Le Chambon in the Thirties 134

11 Understanding Catastrophe: 1939-1941 155

12 The War Worsens: 1942-1943 174

13 Climax and Denouement: 1943-1944 194

14 The Bridge from War to Peace 214

15 Versailles: The IFOR Years 233

16 Versailles: Rebuilding Peace 251

17 Geneva and Beyond 271

Appendix 297

A Partial Chronology of the Trocmés' Lives and Events 301

Suggested Reading 303

References 307

Index 311

Editorial Reviews

A courageous and inspirational story of André and Magda Trocmé who chose non-violent resistance and, together with the parishioners of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, saved the lives of many Jewish children in World War II France. An unforgettable read.

Harvard Divinity School and the University of Gene François Bovon

A beautifully written and long overdue biography of Magda and André Trocmé, two of the prime movers in a World War II rescue mission in south-central France that saved the lives of an estimated 3,500 refugees. Working with thousands of unpublished pages, Unsworth probes deeply into the psyche of these two very different internationalists from whose biographies emerge a history of nonviolence, conscientious objection and pacifism in the twentieth century.

Whitman College Patrick G. Henry

A compelling and engaging narrative that tasks any reader to think about the role and reality of violence within their world. More to the point, it tasks anyone interested in nonviolence to think about the Christian call to become peacemakers in the world as an uncompromising demand.

Peace and Justice Studies Journal

An absolutely wonderful new biography of two seminal figures in the international history of nonviolence. Unsworth draws on rich archival research and personal interviews, skillfully weaving a narrative of these two exceptionally courageous and inspiring individuals. A comprehensive and engagingly written account, and a 'must-read' for anyone interested in nonviolence, the resistance to Nazism, and more broadly the meaning of a life uncompromisingly lived according to the highest ethical ideals.

Micheal D. Bess

A courageous and inspirational story of André and Magda Trocmé who chose non-violent resistance and, together with the parishioners of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, saved the lives of many Jewish children in World War II France. An unforgettable read.

Harvard Divinity School and the University of Gene François Bovon

A compelling and engaging narrative that tasks any reader to think about the role and reality of violence within their world. More to the point, it tasks anyone interested in nonviolence to think about the Christian call to become peacemakers in the world as an uncompromising demand.

Peace and Justice Studies Journal - Peder Jothen