3.
André Trocmé was born in 1901. He
was tall and solidly built and had a long
nose and sharp blue eyes. He worked
tirelessly, lumbering from one end of Le
Chambon to the other. His daughter,
Nelly, writes that “a sense of duty
exuded from his pores.” He called
himself a pacifist, but there was nothing
pacifist about him. He and his wife,
Magda, were famous for their shouting
matches. He was often described as un
violent vaincu par Dieu—a violent man
conquered by God. “A curse on him who
begins in gentleness,” he wrote in his
journal. “He shall finish in insipidity and