Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed

In the bitter, cold winter of 1940, Magda Trocmé heard a knock on the presbytery door. She discovered a German Jewish woman who had fled persecution in both Germany and occupied northern France. Magda invited the woman in, gave her food, and got her warm. Then, Magda went to the mayor to try to secure papers for the woman. The mayor was enraged that Magda had endangered the village and ordered her to get the refugee out of Le Chambon by the next day. Magda said nothing and left, thinking of solutions for the woman on her way out. She decided to send the woman to a Catholic family who, like the Trocmés, resisted the deportation and persecution of Jews and others under Nazi occupation. Magda got the woman new shoes, and she left the next morning.

Later, another refugee arrived at the presbytery, and Magda went to the French Jewish woman in town for help after receiving no assistance from those in authority. She faced the same “us versus them” attitude from the Jewish woman as she did from the mayor. These experiences taught Magda and the other Chambonnais to hide their actions from unsympathetic eyes, which created a significant moral challenge for Magda and others who believed that lying was a sin and that to obscure or omit was to lie.