Le Chambon-sur-Lignon

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Coordinates: 45°03′42″N 4°18′11″E / 45.0616666667°N 4.30305555556°E / 45.0616666667; 4.30305555556

Commune of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon
Location
Le Chambon-sur-Lignon is located in France
Le Chambon-sur-Lignon
Administration
Country France
Region Auvergne
Department Haute-Loire
Arrondissement Yssingeaux
Canton Tence
Mayor Eliane Wauquiez
(2008–2014)
Statistics
Elevation 874–1,139 m (2,870–3,740 ft)
(avg. 1,000 m/3,300 ft)
Land area1 41.71 km2 (16.10 sq mi)
Population2 2,642  (1999)
 - Density 63 /km2 (160 /sq mi)
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code 43051/ 43400
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
2 Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Le Chambon-sur-Lignon is a commune in the Haute-Loire department in south-central France.

Primarily a Huguenot town, it became a haven for Jews fleeing from the Nazis during World War II.

Contents

[edit] World War II

With the leadership of local minister André Trocmé and pastor Edouard Theis, beginning in 1942, the citizens of Chambon-sur-Lignon risked their lives to hide Jews who were being rounded up by the Nazi SS for shipment to the death camps. They were hidden in private homes, on farms in the area, as well as in public institutions. Whenever the Nazi patrols came searching, they were hidden in the 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."

In addition to providing shelter, the citizens of the town obtained forged identification and ration cards for Jews to use and then 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 Maidanek concentration camp where he was murdered.

It is estimated that the people of Chambon-sur-Lignon saved between 3,000-5,000 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 1990, for their humanitarianism and bravery under extreme danger, 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, and in January 2007 they were honored along with the other French Righteous Among the Nations in a ceremony at the Panthéon in Paris,.[1]

[edit] Miscellaneous

The town of Chambon-sur-Lignon is home to the Collège Lycée International Cévenol, a private boarding school founded in 1938 by local Protestant ministers André Trocmé and Edouard Theis.

[edit] Geography

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 north-western border.

[edit] Twin towns

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Jacques Chirac Honors French World War II Saviors, European Jewish Congress, 11 April 2007.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Chambon-sur-Lignon"