drafted with Trocmé’s help. Earlier that
summer, the Vichy police had rounded
up twelve thousand Jews in Paris at the
request of the Nazis. Those arrested
were held in horrendous conditions at
the Vélodrome d’Hiver south of Paris
before being sent to the concentration
camp at Auschwitz. Le Chambon, the
children made it clear, wanted no part in
any of this. “Mr. Minister,” the letter
began:
We have learned of the frightening
scenes which took place three weeks
ago in Paris, where the French
police, on orders of the occupying
power, arrested in their homes all the