David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

kind of preparation.” When the first
refugee appeared at her door, Magda
Trocmé said it never occurred to her to
say no. “I did not know that it would be
dangerous. Nobody thought of that.” I
did not know that it would be
dangerous? Nobody thought of that? In
the rest of France, all people thought
about was how dangerous life was. But
the people of Le Chambon were past
that. When the first Jewish refugees
arrived, the townsfolk drew up false
papers for them—not a difficult thing to
do if your community has spent a century
hiding its true beliefs from the
government. They hid the Jews in the
places they had been hiding refugees for
generations and smuggled them across