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123-517: The Collège Cévenol was founded in 1938 by local Protestant activists and pacifists , and had been shaped from its beginnings by the area's long-standing traditions of resistance to political and religious oppression. From the beginning, the Collège promoted education linked to principles of nonviolence and the development of mutual understanding and solidarity in a socially and ethnically diverse society. The school's founders were also key organizers of

246-717: A Cinquante Ans . Le Chambon-sur-Lignon: Collège Cévenol, 1989. Henry, Patrick (Patrick Gerard). "Banishing the Coercion of Despair: Le Chambon-sur-Lignon and the Holocaust Today." Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies 20.2 (2002), 69–84. Lecomte, Fracois and Trocme, Jacques, I Will Never Be Fourteen Years Old: Le Chambon-sur-Lignon & My Second Life, Beach Lloyd Publishers, LLC; first edition (July 1, 2009) McIntyre, Michael. "Altruism, Collective Action, and Rationality: The Case of Le Chambon." Polity 27.4 (1995), 537–557. Paldiel, Mordecai. The Path of

369-694: A French couple designated Righteous Among the Nations . For 15 years, André served as a Protestant pastor in the French town of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon , on the Plateau Vivarais-Lignon, in south-central France . He had been accepted to the rather remote parish because of his Christian pacifist positions, which were not well received by the French Protestant Church . In his preaching, he spoke out against discrimination as

492-543: A Life) recorded by Christian Lassalas for FR3 Auvergne Radio (April 1982 – 90 min). The Plateau Vivarais-Lignon and Le Chambon-sur-Lignon have become a symbol of the rescue of Jews in France during World War II. As historians continue to examine events during the German occupation and Vichy rule, several longstanding disputes have emerged. In the case of the Plateau Vivarais-Lignon and Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, they include whether

615-430: A brand of nonviolence (or ahimsa ) which he called satyagraha  – translated literally as "truth force". This was the resistance of tyranny through civil disobedience that was not only nonviolent but also sought to change the heart of the opponent. He contrasted this with duragraha , "resistant force", which sought only to change behaviour with stubborn protest. During his 30 years of work (1917–1947) for

738-500: A broad moral guideline against violence between individuals. No philosophical program of rejecting violence between states, or rejecting all forms of violence, seems to have existed. Aristophanes , in his play Lysistrata , creates the scenario of an Athenian woman's anti-war sex strike during the Peloponnesian War of 431–404 BCE, and the play has gained an international reputation for its anti-war message. Nevertheless, it

861-484: A campaign of nonviolent resistance in the event of a fascist invasion or takeover. As the prospect of a second major war began to seem increasingly inevitable, much of France adopted pacifist views, though some historians argue that France felt more war anxiety than a moral objection to a second war. Hitler's spreading influence and territory posed an enormous threat to French livelihood from their neighbors. The French countryside had been devastated during World War I and

984-715: A former British ambassador to the United States. These and other initiatives were pivotal in the change in attitudes that gave birth to the League of Nations after the war. In addition to the traditional peace churches, some of the many groups that protested against the war were the Woman's Peace Party (which was organized in 1915 and led by noted reformer Jane Addams ), the International Committee of Women for Permanent Peace (ICWPP) (also organized in 1915),

1107-525: A girl in 2010 was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment . “Cévenol” is an adjective meaning "of the Cévennes mountains," a nearby mountain range that is historically significant as a site of resistance for French Protestants. Le Chambon and the Collège are not located in the Cévennes themselves, but just to the north, on the high Plateau Vivarais-Lignon. The "Cévenol" reference in the school's name

1230-420: A leading figure in the peace movement with the publication of her novel, Die Waffen nieder! ("Lay Down Your Arms!") in 1889 and founded an Austrian pacifist organization in 1891. In colonial New Zealand , during the latter half of the 19th century European settlers used numerous tactics to confiscate land from the indigenous Māori , including warfare . In the 1870s and 1880s, Parihaka , then reported to be

1353-515: A minister in the Vichy government, made an official visit to Le Chambon on August 15, 1942, Trocmé expressed his opinions to him. Days later, the Vichy gendarmes were sent into the town to locate "illegal" aliens. Amidst rumors that Trocmé was soon to be arrested, he urged his parishioners to "do the will of God, not of men". He also spoke of the Biblical passage Deuteronomy 19:2–10 , which speaks of

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1476-450: A non-profit organization founded in 1952, unites alumni and friends of the Collège from all of the phases of the school's history. It contributed to the school by organizing an annual fundraising drive among the school's US alumni and by continuing the tradition of the summer work camps that went back to the school's earliest years. The work camps were three-week summer sessions organized for high school and college-age students who experienced

1599-437: A strictly pacifist interpretation of Christianity . They stated their beliefs in a declaration to King Charles II : "We utterly deny all outward wars and strife, and fightings with outward weapons, for any end, or under any pretense whatever; this is our testimony to the whole world. The Spirit of Christ ... which leads us into all truth, will never move us to fight and war against any man with outward weapons, neither for

1722-405: A student-run assembly, radio station, and magazine, were initiated during these years. Notable teachers during this early period included the philosopher Paul Ricoeur and the writer and nonviolence activist Lanza del Vasto , one of the principal western followers of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi . Notable students from the early years include Alexander Grothendieck , one of the key mathematicians of

1845-455: A way to pay for his expenses abroad. Trocmé met Magda Grilli, a Russian-Italian woman who had come to New York to learn social work and escape the confines of her home. Magda Elisa Larissa Grilli di Cortona was born on November 2, 1901, in Florence, Italy. Her father was an Italian born of Florentine nobility and was distant to Magda due to the death of his wife, Magda's mother. Magda's mother

1968-413: Is Luke 22:36: "He said to them, 'But now, the one who has a purse must take it, and likewise a bag. And the one who has no sword must sell his cloak and buy one .'" Pacifists have typically explained that verse as Jesus fulfilling prophecy, since in the next verse, Jesus continues to say: "It is written: 'And he was numbered with the transgressors'; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what

2091-588: Is Within You , Tolstoy provides a detailed history, account and defense of pacifism. Tolstoy's work inspired a movement named after him advocating pacifism to arise in Russia and elsewhere. The book was a major early influence on Mahatma Gandhi , and the two engaged in regular correspondence while Gandhi was active in South Africa. Bertha von Suttner , the first woman to be a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, became

2214-484: Is both fictional and comical, and though it offers a pragmatic opposition to the destructiveness of war, its message seems to stem from frustration with the existing conflict (then in its twentieth year) rather than from a philosophical position against violence or war. Equally fictional is the nonviolent protest of Hegetorides of Thasos . Euripides also expressed strong anti-war ideas in his work, especially The Trojan Women . In Plato's Republic Socrates makes

2337-445: Is described as difficult to abide by consistently, due to violence not being available as a tool to aid a person who is being harmed or killed. It is further claimed that such a pacifist could logically argue that violence leads to more undesirable results than non-violence. Tapping into just war theory conditional pacifism represents a spectrum of positions departing from positions of absolute pacifism. One such conditional pacifism

2460-752: Is named for pacifism : " lemba, lemba " (peace, peace), describes the action of the plant lemba-lemba ( Brillantaisia patula T. Anders ). Likewise in Cabinda, " Lemba is the spirit of peace, as its name indicates." The Moriori , of the Chatham Islands , practiced pacifism by order of their ancestor Nunuku-whenua . This enabled the Moriori to preserve what limited resources they had in their harsh climate, avoiding waste through warfare. In turn, this led to their almost complete annihilation in 1835 by invading Ngāti Mutunga and Ngāti Tama Māori from

2583-498: Is of Jesus, besides preaching these words, surrendering himself freely to an enemy intent on having him killed and proscribing his followers from defending him. There are those, however, who deny that Jesus was a pacifist and state that Jesus never said not to fight, citing examples from the New Testament. One such instance portrays an angry Jesus driving dishonest market traders from the temple . A frequently quoted passage

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2706-422: Is the common pacificism , which may allow defense but is not advocating a default defensivism or even interventionism . Institutional pacifists object to the foundation and continued existence of institutions that enable and encourage war, similarly to those who criticise the influence of the military–industrial complex . The term may have been coined by American sociologist Charles A. Ellwood , writing for

2829-617: Is the opposition or resistance to war , militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence . The word pacifism was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ahimsa (to do no harm), which is a core philosophy in Indian religions such as Hinduism , Buddhism , and Jainism . While modern connotations are recent, having been explicated since

2952-543: Is thus cultural and historical rather than literal, situating the school's founding within the long heritage of French Protestant ( Huguenot ) resistance to persecution after the Reformation, for example during the Camisard wars of the early eighteenth century. The peasant fighters called “Camisards” who struggled against the French crown were also known as “Cévenols” after the rugged, mountainous terrain that facilitated

3075-507: Is written about me is reaching its fulfillment." Others have interpreted the non-pacifist statements in the New Testament to be related to self-defense or to be metaphorical and state that on no occasion did Jesus shed blood or urge others to shed blood. Beginning in the 16th century, the Protestant Reformation gave rise to a variety of new Christian sects, including the historic peace churches . Foremost among them were

3198-676: The Three Strategies of Huang Shigong says: "As for the military, it is not an auspicious instrument; it is the way of heaven to despise it", and the Wei Liaozi writes: "As for the military, it is an inauspicious instrument; as for conflict and contention, it runs counter to virtue". The Taoist scripture " Classic of Great Peace ( Taiping jing )" foretells "the coming Age of Great Peace ( Taiping )". The Taiping Jing advocates "a world full of peace". The Lemba religion of southern French Congo, along with its symbolic herb,

3321-754: The American Union Against Militarism , the Fellowship of Reconciliation and the American Friends Service Committee . Jeannette Rankin , the first woman elected to Congress, was another fierce advocate of pacifism, the only person to vote against American entrance into both wars. After the immense loss of nearly ten million men to trench warfare , a sweeping change of attitude toward militarism crashed over Europe, particularly in nations such as Great Britain, where many questioned its involvement in

3444-480: The Fellowship of Reconciliation in 1943. Since the 2010s, some authors have expressed a renewed interest in institutional pacifism , often contrasting it with the more individually-oriented types of personal pacifism , and highlighting the role of human institutions in permitting accumulation of military resources. One writer suggested that institutional pacifism can be further categorised into juridicial pacifism and social pacifism, while another attempted to cite

3567-510: The French Revolutionary Wars based on Christian ideals of peace and brotherhood. Bohemian Bernard Bolzano taught about the social waste of militarism and the needlessness of war. He urged a total reform of the educational, social, and economic systems that would direct the nation's interests toward peace rather than toward armed conflict between nations. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, pacifism

3690-734: The League to Enforce Peace was established in the U.S. to promote similar goals. Hamilton Holt published a 28 September 1914, editorial in his magazine the Independent called "The Way to Disarm: A Practical Proposal" that called for an international organization to agree upon the arbitration of disputes and to guarantee the territorial integrity of its members by maintaining military forces sufficient to defeat those of any non-member. The ensuing debate among prominent internationalists modified Holt's plan to align it more closely with proposals offered in Great Britain by Viscount James Bryce ,

3813-609: The Peace Pledge Union in 1934, which totally renounced war and aggression. The idea of collective security was also popular; instead of outright pacifism, the public generally exhibited a determination to stand up to aggression, but preferably with the use of economic sanctions and multilateral negotiations. Many members of the Peace Pledge Union later joined the Bruderhof during its period of residence in

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3936-641: The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), Amish , Mennonites , Hutterites , and Church of the Brethren . The humanist writer Desiderius Erasmus was one of the most outspoken pacifists of the Renaissance , arguing strongly against warfare in his essays The Praise of Folly (1509) and The Complaint of Peace (1517). The Quakers were prominent advocates of pacifism, who as early as 1660 had repudiated violence in all forms and adhered to

4059-742: The Service Civil International and the Peace Pledge Union (PPU). The League of Nations also convened several disarmament conferences in the interbellum period such as the Geneva Conference , though the support that pacifist policy and idealism received varied across European nations. These organizations and movements attracted tens of thousands of Europeans, spanning most professions including "scientists, artists, musicians, politicians, clerks, students, activists and thinkers." Pacifism and revulsion with war were very popular sentiments in 1920s Britain. Novels and poems on

4182-616: The Taranaki region of the North Island of New Zealand. The invading Māori killed, enslaved and cannibalised the Moriori. A Moriori survivor recalled : "[The Maori] commenced to kill us like sheep ... [We] were terrified, fled to the bush, concealed ourselves in holes underground, and in any place to escape our enemies. It was of no avail; we were discovered and killed – men, women and children indiscriminately." In Ancient Greece , pacifism seems not to have existed except as

4305-773: The Union 's military campaign, arguing they were carrying out a " police action " against the Confederacy , whose act of Secession they regarded as criminal. Following the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War , French pacifist René Gérin urged support for the Spanish Republic . Gérin argued that the Spanish Nationalists were "comparable to an individual enemy" and the Republic's war effort

4428-465: The Warring States period , the pacifist Mohist School opposed aggressive war between the feudal states. They took this belief into action by using their famed defensive strategies to defend smaller states from invasion from larger states, hoping to dissuade feudal lords from costly warfare. The Seven Military Classics of ancient China view warfare negatively, and as a last resort. For example,

4551-684: The Yoshida Doctrine as an example of institutional pacifism. Although all pacifists are opposed to war between nation states , there have been occasions where pacifists have supported military conflict in the case of civil war or revolution . For instance, during the American Civil War , both the American Peace Society and some former members of the Non-Resistance Society supported

4674-421: The civil rights movement . Pacifism covers a spectrum of views, including the belief that international disputes can and should be peacefully resolved, calls for the abolition of the institutions of the military and war, opposition to any organization of society through governmental force ( anarchist or libertarian pacifism ), rejection of the use of physical violence to obtain political, economic or social goals,

4797-586: The fascists of Germany , Italy and Japan . During the period of the Napoleonic Wars , although no formal peace movement was established until the end of hostilities, a significant peace movement animated by universalist ideals did emerge, due to the perception of Britain fighting in a reactionary role and the increasingly visible impact of the war on the welfare of the nation in the form of higher taxation levels and high casualty rates. Sixteen peace petitions to Parliament were signed by members of

4920-718: The 19th century, ancient references abound. In modern times, interest was revived by Leo Tolstoy in his late works, particularly in The Kingdom of God Is Within You . Mahatma Gandhi propounded the practice of steadfast nonviolent opposition which he called " satyagraha ", instrumental in its role in the Indian Independence Movement . Its effectiveness served as inspiration to Martin Luther King Jr. , James Lawson , Mary and Charles Beard , James Bevel , Thich Nhat Hanh , and many others in

5043-538: The Bible" and for their cities to be a "city of refuge." Trocmé was a catalyst whose efforts led to Le Chambon and surrounding villages becoming a unique haven in Nazi-occupied France . Trocmé and his church members helped their town develop ways of resisting the dominant force they faced. Together they established first one, and then a number of "safe houses" where Jewish and other refugees seeking to escape

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5166-515: The College would be closing its doors at the end of the school year, faced with mounting financial difficulties and declining enrollment. The College became national news in November 2011 because of a brutal crime, 13-year-old Agnès Marin 's body was found burned, with stab wounds and raped inside the forest next to the College. A 17-year-old called Matthieu Moulinas who was on parole after raping

5289-1005: The Collège Cévenol (in English): https://web.archive.org/web/20070122143709/http://www.cevenolfriends.org/ (information on summer workcamp program) French Alumni site for the history of the Collège (in French): http://collegecevenol.pasteur.ch/ (in French) (information on meetings; reminiscences, photos, etc.) The Collège Cévenol Forever (in French) ;: http://www.collegecevenol.org/ (in French) (information on present and future of College) Historical scholarship Boismorand, Pierre, ed. Magda et André Trocmé: Figures de résistances . Texts selected and edited par Pierre Boismorand. Preface by Lucien Lazare. Paris: Editions du Cerf, 2008. (A French-language collection of excerpts from

5412-707: The Cotswolds, where Englishmen and Germans, many of whom were Jewish, lived side by side despite local persecution. The British Labour Party had a strong pacifist wing in the early 1930s, and between 1931 and 1935 it was led by George Lansbury , a Christian pacifist who later chaired the No More War Movement and was president of the PPU. The 1933 annual conference resolved unanimously to "pledge itself to take no part in war". Researcher Richard Toye writes that "Labour's official position, however, although based on

5535-475: The Cévenol school and leaders of the town's collective effort to protect the refugees. In recognition of their courage and leadership, they, along with Roland Leenhardt (a future director of the school who was then a pastor in the neighboring village of Tence ) and the people of Le Chambon, were later honored as “ Righteous among the Nations ” (sometimes translated as “Righteous Gentiles”), a secular award given by

5658-571: The French economist Frédéric Passy was also the founding father of the first international organisation for the arbitration of conflicts in 1889, the Inter-Parliamentary Union . The National Peace Council was founded in after the 17th Universal Peace Congress in London (July August 1908). An important thinker who contributed to pacifist ideology was Russian writer Leo Tolstoy . In one of his latter works, The Kingdom of God

5781-602: The French politician Duc de Sully , the philosophers Émeric Crucé and the Abbe de Saint-Pierre , and the English Quakers William Penn and John Bellers . Pacifist ideals emerged from two strands of thought that coalesced at the end of the 18th century. One, rooted in the secular Enlightenment , promoted peace as the rational antidote to the world's ills, while the other was a part of the evangelical religious revival that had played an important part in

5904-596: The Holocaust (New York: New York University Press, 1986), 99–121. Unsworth, Richard P.A Portrait of Pacifists: Le Chambon, the Holocaust and the Lives of Andre and Magda Trocme (Religion, Theology, and the Holocaust, Peter I. Rose (Foreword) Syracuse University Press, March 15, 2012 Fiction, memoir, and young adult books Boegner, Philippe. Ici on a aimé les Juifs . Paris: J. C. Lattès, 1982. (A memoir-novel). DeSaix, Deborah Durland and Karen Gray Ruelle. Hidden on

6027-515: The Holocaust memorial center in Israel, Yad Vashem , recognized André Trocmé as Righteous among the Nations. He died later that year in Geneva. In July 1986, Magda was also recognized. Several years later, Yad Vashem honored the village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon and the neighboring communities with an engraved stele erected in its memorial park. It was the second time Yad Vashem honored a whole community,

6150-1032: The Mountain: Stories of Children Sheltered from the Nazis in Le Chambon . New York: Holiday House, 2007. (Stories of Chambon hidden children, with many historical photographs). Lecomte, François. I Will Never Be Fourteen Years Old: Le Chambon-sur-Lignon and My Second Life . Tr. Jacques Trocmé. Wayne PA: Beach Lloyd Publishers, 2009. (Memoir). Lecomte, François. "Jamais je n'aurai quatorze ans." Paris : Le Manuscrit / Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah, 2005. Matas, Carol. Greater Than Angels . New York: Simon Pulse / Simon & Schuster, 1999. (Young Adult Fiction). Films Barnett, Barbara P. and Eileen M. Angelini. La France divisée . Rosemont PA: The Agnes Irwin School Holocaust Project, 2002. 36 minutes. Pacifists Pacifism

6273-451: The Māori, which proved more successful in preventing land confiscations than acts of violent resistance. Mahatma Gandhi was a major political and spiritual leader of India, instrumental in the Indian independence movement . The Nobel prize winning great poet Rabindranath Tagore , who was also an Indian, gave him the honorific " Mahatma ", usually translated "Great Soul". He was the pioneer of

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6396-817: The Nazis could hide. These houses received contributions from the Quakers , the Salvation Army , the American Congregational Church , the pacifist movement Fellowship of Reconciliation , Jewish and Christian ecumenical groups, the French Protestant student organization Cimade and the Swiss organization Help to Children in order to house and buy food supplies for the fleeing refugees. Many refugees were helped to escape to Switzerland following an underground railroad network. With

6519-561: The Nazis were gaining power in neighboring Germany and urged his Protestant Huguenot congregation to hide Jewish refugees from the Holocaust during World War II . André Trocmé was born in Saint-Quentin-en-Tourmont to a large and prosperous upper-middle class and Protestant family. His mother, Pauline Schwerdtmenn, passed away when Trocmé was ten due to an automobile accident, leaving him to be raised by his distant but demanding father. André's father, Paul Trocmé,

6642-714: The Peace Society in 1850 on a full-time basis, a position which he would keep for the next 40 years, earning himself a reputation as the 'Apostle of Peace'. He helped secure one of the earliest victories for the peace movement by securing a commitment from the Great Powers in the Treaty of Paris (1856) at the end of the Crimean War , in favour of arbitration. On the European continent, wracked by social upheaval ,

6765-482: The Protestant church in Le Chambon, proposed the creation of a new secondary school. His proposal envisioned a school that would address four goals: Working with Edouard Theis, another local pastor, the school's first classes were held in September 1938. On its first day, the school had four teachers and 18 students, and met in a room in the Protestant “Temple” or church of Le Chambon. Because of its relatively remote and protected location in Le Chambon, and because it

6888-655: The Righteous: Gentile Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust . Hoboken: KTAV Publishing, 1993. Rochat, François and André Modigliani. "The Ordinary Quality of Resistance: from Milgram's Laboratory to the Village of Le Chambon." Journal of Social Issues 51.3 (1995), 195–210. Ruelle, Karen Gray and Desaix, Deborah Durland Hidden on the Mountain: Stories of Children Sheltered from the Nazis in Le Chambon Holiday House; First Edition (February 1, 2007) Sauvage, Pierre, with Magda Trocmé, Philip Hallie, Hans Solomon, Hanne Liebmann, Rudy Appel. "Le Chambon." In Carol Rittner and Sondra Myers, eds., The Courage to Care: Rescuers of Jews During

7011-432: The State of Israel to distinguish non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews from extermination by the Nazis. Le Chambon was, in fact, the first community to be recognized in this manner by Yad Vashem . At the end of the war in 1945, a Collège Cévenol Association (now the AUCC or Association Unifiée du Collège Cévenol) was founded. In 1952 Carl and Florence Sangree, two Americans then associated with

7134-410: The U.S. In Britain, the prominent activist Stephen Henry Hobhouse was jailed for refusing military service, citing his convictions as a "socialist and a Christian". Many socialist groups and movements were antimilitarist , arguing that war by its nature was a type of governmental coercion of the working class for the benefit of capitalist elites. The French socialist pacifist leader Jean Jaurès

7257-458: The US) to Terminale (the 13th and final or "terminal" year in the French primary-secondary system, during which students prepare for the Baccalauréat examination). It continued to play a role in the local hosting and relief of refugees from conflicts in the Balkans and Eastern Europe. The school maintained partnerships and exchange agreements with several other secondary schools oriented toward international education: The school's governing board

7380-560: The Western world after 1900, often focusing on treaties that would settle disputes through arbitration, and efforts to support the Hague conventions. The sudden outbreak of the First World War in July 1914 dismayed the peace movement. Socialist parties in every industrial nation had committed themselves to antiwar policies, but when the war came, all of them, except in Russia and the United States, supported their own governments. There were highly publicized dissidents, some of whom were imprisoned for opposing draft laws, such as Eugene Debs in

7503-412: The Younger criticised warfare in his book Naturales quaestiones (c. 65 CE). Maximilian of Tebessa was a Christian conscientious objector. He was killed for refusing to be conscripted. Throughout history many have understood Jesus of Nazareth to have been a pacifist, drawing on his Sermon on the Mount . In the sermon Jesus stated that one should "not resist an evildoer" and promoted his turn

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7626-420: The aspiration towards a world socialist commonwealth and the outlawing of war, did not imply a renunciation of force under all circumstances, but rather support for the ill-defined concept of 'collective security' under the League of Nations. At the same time, on the party's left, Stafford Cripps 's small but vocal Socialist League opposed the official policy, on the non-pacifist ground that the League of Nations

7749-575: The atmosphere of Le Chambon and the Collège during the very pleasant summer season in the mountains, worked at community service projects and basic maintenance or repair tasks at the school, and improved their French-language skills. The French Misplaced Pages article on the Collège Cévenol provides French-language links to articles on many of these individuals: Collège Cévenol official website (in French): https://web.archive.org/web/20030830015045/http://www.lecevenol.org/ (in French) (information for applications, enrollment, calendar, etc.) American Friends of

7872-459: The campaign for the abolition of slavery . Representatives of the former included Jean-Jacques Rousseau , in Extrait du Projet de Paix Perpetuelle de Monsieur l'Abbe Saint-Pierre (1756), Immanuel Kant , in his Thoughts on Perpetual Peace , and Jeremy Bentham who proposed the formation of a peace association in 1789. Representative of the latter, was William Wilberforce who thought that strict limits should be imposed on British involvement in

7995-452: The civil rights movement's march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965, they have called for armed protection. The interconnections between civil resistance and factors of force are numerous and complex. An absolute pacifist is generally described by the BBC as one who believes that human life is so valuable, that a human should never be killed and war should never be conducted, even in self-defense (except for non-violence type). The principle

8118-433: The colonies, Quakers chose to trade peacefully with the Native Americans , including for land. The colonial province was, for the 75 years from 1681 to 1756, essentially unarmed and experienced little or no warfare in that period. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, a number of thinkers devised plans for an international organisation that would promote peace, and reduce or even eliminate the occurrence of war. These included

8241-478: The costs of war and interpersonal violence are so substantial that better ways of resolving disputes must be found. Some pacifists follow principles of nonviolence , believing that nonviolent action is morally superior and/or most effective. Some however, support physical violence for emergency defence of self or others. Others support destruction of property in such emergencies or for conducting symbolic acts of resistance like pouring red paint to represent blood on

8364-403: The definitions of those in power. "We do not know what a Jew is. We only know men", he said when asked by the Vichy authorities to produce a list of the Jews in the town. Between 1940 and 1945 when World War II ended in Europe, it is now documented by researcher Muriel Rosenberg in her 2021 book Mais combien étaient-ils? that at least 2,000 Jewish refugees, including many children, were saved by

8487-417: The entire nation was reluctant to subject its territory to the same treatment. Though all countries in the First World War had suffered great losses, France was one of the most devastated and many did not want a second war. Andr%C3%A9 and Magda Trocm%C3%A9 André Trocmé (April 7, 1901  – June 5, 1971) and his wife, Magda (née Grilli di Cortona, November 2, 1901  – October 10, 1996), were

8610-482: The entitlement of the persecuted to shelter. The gendarmes were unsuccessful and left the town. In February 1943, André Trocmé was arrested along with Edouard Theis and the public school headmaster Roger Darcissac. Sent to Saint-Paul d'Eyjeaux , a French internment camp near Limoges, they were released after four weeks and pressed to sign a commitment to obey all government orders. Trocmé and Theis refused but were nevertheless released. They went underground where Trocmé

8733-482: The extraordinary conditions of World War II resistance culture faded away. Primarily because it has never charged high tuition and has never aimed to become an exclusive school for the wealthy, the Collège Cévenol has never been financially independent and relies on state funding to survive. After growing to an enrollment of about 500 during the 1980s and 1990s, the school encountered financial difficulties and its enrollment returned to around 300 after 1997. Since that time,

8856-521: The first peace congress was held in Brussels in 1848 followed by Paris a year later. After experiencing a recession in support due to the resurgence of militarism during the American Civil War and Crimean War , the movement began to spread across Europe and began to infiltrate the new socialist movements. In 1870, Randal Cremer formed the Workman's Peace Association in London. Cremer, alongside

8979-598: The first time being the Dutch village of Nieuwlande in 1988. André was the second cousin of Daniel Trocmé (1910–1944), who was involved in similar activities to rescue Jews from the Vichy government and died in the Majdanek concentration camp in April 1944. In March 1976, Yad Vashem likewise recognized Daniel as Righteous among the Nations. Magda Trocmé was the guest of French radio program Les Chemins d'une Vie (Paths of

9102-522: The help of many dedicated people, families were located who were willing to accommodate Jewish refugees; members of the community reported to the railroad station to gather the arriving refugees, and the town's schools were prepared for the increased enrollment of new children, often under false names. Many village families and numerous farm families also took in children whose parents had been shipped to concentration camps in Germany. Trocmé refused to accept

9225-837: The independence of Algeria from France, and demonstrated against the development of nuclear armaments in France. André and Magda were signatories of the agreement to convene a convention for drafting a world constitution . In 1968, a World Constituent Assembly convened to draft and adopt the Constitution for the Federation of Earth . André spent his final years as a pastor of the Reformed Church in Geneva, where he died. Magda died in Paris. André and Magda are buried in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon. In January 1971,

9348-479: The independence of his country from British colonial rule , Gandhi led dozens of nonviolent campaigns, spent over seven years in prison, and fasted nearly to the death on several occasions to obtain British compliance with a demand or to stop inter-communal violence. His efforts helped lead India to independence in 1947, and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom worldwide. Peace movements became active in

9471-613: The interpretations based on Trocmé's writings are complete or correct. Those issues are objectively addressed in Robert Paxton 's Vichy France: Old Guard and New Order (1972) and in Patrick Henry's book, We Only Know Men: The Rescue of Jews in France During the Holocaust (2013). Meanwhile, Richard Unsworth's A Portrait of Pacifists: Le Chambon, the Holocaust, and the Lives of André and Magda Trocmé (2012) provides

9594-526: The kingdom of Christ, nor for the kingdoms of this world. Throughout the many 18th century wars in which Great Britain participated, the Quakers maintained a principled commitment not to serve in the army and militia or even to pay the alternative £10 fine. The English Quaker William Penn , who founded the Province of Pennsylvania , employed an anti-militarist public policy. Unlike residents of many of

9717-649: The largest Māori settlement in New Zealand, became the centre of a major campaign of non-violent resistance to land confiscations. One Māori leader, Te Whiti-o-Rongomai , quickly became the leading figure in the movement, stating in a speech that "Though some, in darkness of heart, seeing their land ravished, might wish to take arms and kill the aggressors, I say it must not be. Let not the Pakehas think to succeed by reason of their guns... I want not war". Te Whiti-o-Rongomai achieved renown for his non-violent tactics among

9840-532: The memory of the International Brigades and other militaristic interventions. Shortly after the war ended, Simone Weil , despite having volunteered for service on the republican side, went on to publish The Iliad or the Poem of Force , a work that has been described as a pacifist manifesto. In response to the threat of fascism, some pacifist thinkers, such as Richard B. Gregg , devised plans for

9963-409: The mid-nineteenth century. The London Peace Society, under the initiative of American consul Elihu Burritt and the reverend Henry Richard , convened the first International Peace Congress in London in 1843. The congress decided on two aims: the ideal of peaceable arbitration in the affairs of nations and the creation of an international institution to achieve that. Richard became the secretary of

10086-624: The now-famous community effort, in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, to shelter and save Jewish refugees during the Second World War . Thus an important part of the school's early development was linked to this much discussed episode. During its early years, from 1938 to 1971, the school was entirely private, and was associated with the Protestant Reformed Church of France , although it welcomed students regardless of their religious or non-religious orientation. From 1971 on, it

10209-671: The obliteration of force, and opposition to violence under any circumstance, even defence of self and others. Historians of pacifism Peter Brock and Thomas Paul Socknat define pacifism "in the sense generally accepted in English-speaking areas" as "an unconditional rejection of all forms of warfare". Philosopher Jenny Teichman defines the main form of pacifism as "anti-warism", the rejection of all forms of warfare. Teichman's beliefs have been summarized by Brian Orend as "... A pacifist rejects war and believes there are no moral grounds which can justify resorting to war. War, for

10332-407: The other cheek philosophy. "If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well ... Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you." He also believed that murder is a sin and repeated the commandment of " Thou shalt not kill ". The New Testament story

10455-510: The others. During the course of the war, Le Chambon's remote location made it attractive for other children from more war-torn areas of France as well, and the student body (including Jewish children being hidden in Le Chambon) grew rapidly, from 40 students in 1939 to 150 in 1940, 250 in 1941, 300 in 1942, and 350 to the end of the war. In this situation, André and Magda Trocmé , along with Edouard and Mildred Theis served as both teachers at

10578-450: The outside of military recruiting offices or entering air force bases and hammering on military aircraft. Not all nonviolent resistance (sometimes also called civil resistance ) is based on a fundamental rejection of all violence in all circumstances. Many leaders and participants in such movements, while recognizing the importance of using non-violent methods in particular circumstances, have not been absolute pacifists. Sometimes, as with

10701-455: The pacifist, is always wrong." In a sense the philosophy is based on the idea that the ends do not justify the means. The word pacific denotes conciliatory. Pacifism may be based on moral principles (a deontological view) or pragmatism (a consequentialist view). Principled pacifism holds that at some point along the spectrum from war to interpersonal physical violence, such violence becomes morally wrong. Pragmatic pacifism holds that

10824-465: The pacifistic argument that a just person would not harm anyone. In Plato 's earlier work Crito Socrates asserts that it is not moral to return evil with further evil, an original moral conception, according to Gregory Vlastos , that undermines all justifications for war and violence. Several Roman writers rejected the militarism of Roman society and gave voice to anti-war sentiments, including Propertius , Tibullus and Ovid . The Stoic Seneca

10947-486: The party to oppose Neville Chamberlain 's policy of appeasement . The League of Nations attempted to play its role in ensuring world peace in the 1920s and 1930s. However, with the increasingly revisionist and aggressive behaviour of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Imperial Japan , it ultimately failed to maintain such a world order. Economic sanctions were used against states that committed aggression, such as those against Italy when it invaded Abyssinia , but there

11070-549: The present school with their own hands, from clearing roads and digging trenches for pipes, to building a classroom building, dormitories, and fields for sports. For decades, the original stone farmhouse, called Luquet, housed a makeshift gym, library, refectory, and offices; the refectory is still housed there today. The first dormitories were prefabricated wooden chalets donated by friends of the school in Sweden. The “Batisco” or Batiment Scolaire (the main classroom building used today)

11193-593: The public, anti-war and anti- Pitt demonstrations convened and peace literature was widely published and disseminated. The first peace movements appeared in 1815–16. In the United States the first such movement was the New York Peace Society , founded in 1815 by the theologian David Low Dodge , and the Massachusetts Peace Society . It became an active organization, holding regular weekly meetings, and producing literature which

11316-406: The same modest setting, relatively isolated from the aggressively consumerist and mediatic culture of the early Cold War . Through the 1960s, students and teachers together developed a community that, within the limits imposed by the school's Protestant orientation, emphasized tolerance and independence vis-à-vis dominant ways of thinking. Activities that were relatively rare for the period, such as

11439-473: The school has gradually improved its funding and seeks to renew its unique history and culture in the conditions of the 21st century. The recent actualities have been marked by the murder of Agnès Marin by Matthieu Moulinas, both being pupils here. In its last terms the Collège enrolled students from about 30 different nations each year, working in classes from the Quatrième (the equivalent of 9th grade in

11562-582: The school, founded the AFCC, The American Friends of the Collège Cévenol. A 16-hectare farm at the edge of Le Chambon was acquired as the site for a new campus. The American Association helped raise funds (from the Quaker American Friends Service Committee , among others) and organized work-camps at which the school's teachers and students, along with other volunteers, passed the summers living in large tents while they built

11685-683: The service time in Morocco. Upon returning from the military he joined the French wing of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation along with several of his friends from university. In 1925 he was offered a one-year bursary designated for young French theologians by the Union Theological Seminary in New York. It was there that Trocmé worked as a tutor for the children of John D. Rockefeller Jr . as

11808-433: The site of several “pensions” or boarding-houses that lodged children drawn from refugee camps in the south of France for victims of the Spanish Civil War . The first pension, organized by Trocmé, was Les Grillons (Crickets), followed by several more, mostly funded by major international relief organizations. More refugees from the German occupation soon followed, including many Jewish children who were lodged and hidden among

11931-531: The small group's ability to resist the much larger forces arrayed against them. In the 1930s, this long-standing regional tradition of resistance and hospitality to refugees became essential to the school's beginnings. In May 1938, at a regional synod of the French église réformée (the Reformed Church of France , historically the primary Protestant council in France), pastor André Trocmé , then assigned to

12054-443: The small village of Le Chambon and the communities on the surrounding plateau because the people refused to give in to what they considered to be the illegitimate legal, military and police power of the Nazis. (Earlier unsubstantiated estimates were 3,000 to 5,000 refugees were saved.) These activities eventually came to the attention of the anti-Jewish Vichy regime. Authorities and "security agents" were sent to perform searches within

12177-570: The theme of the futility of war and the slaughter of the youth by old fools were published, including, Death of a Hero by Richard Aldington , Erich Remarque 's translated All Quiet on the Western Front and Beverley Nichols 's expose Cry Havoc . A debate at the University of Oxford in 1933 on the motion 'one must fight for King and country' captured the changed mood when the motion was resoundingly defeated. Dick Sheppard established

12300-475: The town, most of which were unsuccessful. One arrest by the Gestapo led to the death of several young Jewish men in deportation camps. The director of their residence La Maison des Roches, director Daniel Trocmé who was André's second cousin, refused to let the young adults put in his care to be sent away without him. He was arrested and later murdered in the Majdanek concentration camp . When Georges Lamirand ,

12423-431: The twentieth century and a dedicated anti-war activist who had escaped the camps as a child refugee in Le Chambon during the war, and Delphine Seyrig , an actress and activist now remembered for her roles in a series of important films in the 1960s and 1970s. After 1971 the school became part of the French national education system and its culture gradually changed as the generation of organizers and activists formed during

12546-643: The war. After World War I's official end in 1918, peace movements across the continent and the United States renewed, gradually gaining popularity among young Europeans who grew up in the shadow of Europe's trauma over the Great War. Organizations formed in this period included the War Resisters' International , the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom , the No More War Movement ,

12669-746: The wealthy life he had been accustomed to. The Trocmé family moved to Paris, shortly after the end of the First World War. He began studying at the Faculty of the Protestant Theology as well as at Sorbonne. Trocmé's convictions of nonviolence and Christian socialism were deepened here as he studied the Bible. He met many students like himself, including Edouard Theis, who later joined Trocmé in Le Chambon. Trocmé's studies were interrupted due to mandatory military service (1921–1923), which Trocmé did not oppose because he wanted to experience

12792-951: The writings of Magda and André Trocmé) Bolle, Pierre, ed. Le Plateau Vivarais-Lignon: Accueil et Résistance, 1939-1944. Actes du Colloque du Chambon-sur-Lignon . Le Chambon-sur-Lignon: Société de l'Histoire de la Montagne, 1992. Debiève, Roger. Mémoires meurtries, mémoire trahie: Le Chambon-sur-Lignon . Paris: L'Harmattan, 1995. Draper, Allison Stark Pastor Andre Trocme: Spiritual Leader Le Chambon (Holocaust Biographies), Rosen Pub Group; 1st edition (September 2001) Flaud, Annik & Gérard Bollon, préface de Simone Veil. "Paroles de Réfugiés, Paroles de Justes." Le Cheylard : Editions Dolmazon, 2009. Fox, Deborah. "Magda Trocmé: A Mother Responds, "Hineni!" Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies 24.3 (2006), 90–99. Hallie, Philip. Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed: The Story of Le Chambon and How Goodness Happened There . New York: Harper & Row, 1979. Hatzfeld, Olivier. Le Collège Cévenol

12915-503: Was 'nothing but the tool of the satiated imperialist powers'." Lansbury was eventually persuaded to resign as Labour leader by the non-pacifist wing of the party and was replaced by Clement Attlee . As the threat from Nazi Germany increased in the 1930s, the Labour Party abandoned its pacifist position and supported rearmament, largely as the result of the efforts of Ernest Bevin and Hugh Dalton , who by 1937 had also persuaded

13038-407: Was a Russian woman who died shortly after giving birth to Magda. Magda's new step-mother had attempted to put Magda into a Catholic school while in elementary school, but Magda could not outwardly conform. Magda preferred to make up her own mind rather than follow the "ready-made" opinions of others. Even marrying a Protestant pastor did not change her skepticism of religion. From a young age, Magda

13161-500: Was a forbidden matter among pastors, though this did not stop Trocmé from supporting those of the town who refused conscription. This reflected Trocmé's pacifism, which was not highly regarded in the Protestant faith. The family stayed here for seven years, but by 1932 the dusty, polluted air began to take a toll on them. While in search of a new parish, Trocmé was turned down by the first two he had applied to. The third, Le Chambon,

13284-475: Was a wealthy curtain manufacturer. His upbringing was sheltered and strict, but he faced reality when the First World War reached his hometown. During this period of time, Trocmé was only thirteen as he watched soldiers struggle through the streets after battle. In 1916 he saw the trains carrying soldiers bodies to the crematoriums of the South. Trocmé became aware of the notions of identity and loyalty as his family

13407-547: Was assassinated by a nationalist fanatic on 31 July 1914. The national parties in the Second International increasingly supported their respective nations in war, and the International was dissolved in 1916. In 1915, the League of Nations Society was formed by British liberal leaders to promote a strong international organisation that could enforce the peaceful resolution of conflict. Later that year,

13530-608: Was equivalent to the action of a domestic police force suppressing crime. In the 1960s, some pacifists associated with the New Left supported wars of national liberation and supported groups such as the Viet Cong and the Algerian FLN , arguing peaceful attempts to liberate such nations were no longer viable, and war was thus the only option. Advocacy of pacifism can be found far back in history and literature. During

13653-477: Was founded by the same pastors who became the leaders of local efforts to save refugees from Nazi occupation forces and the French Vichy regime that collaborated with them, the Cévenol school played an integral role in the now-famous efforts of the local citizenry in hiding and protecting several thousand Jewish refugees, including many children, throughout the war. By the late 1930s, Le Chambon had become

13776-485: Was interested in social work. In 1925, Magda attended the New York School of Social Work at Columbia University by scholarship. It was here in New York that Magda and André met. André Trocmé married Magda Grilli in 1926. They had four children: Nelly, Jean-Pierre, Jacques, and Daniel. Trocmé's first post as a pastor was at Maubeuge in northern France, a town destroyed by the Great War. Conscientious objection

13899-530: Was more open to pacifists and admired his great faith. In 1938, Pastor André Trocmé and Reverend Edouard Theis founded the Ecole Nouvelle Cévenole, which later became Le Collège-Lycée Cévenol International , in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon. Its initial purpose was to prepare local country youngsters to enter the university. When the refugees arrived, it also took in many Jewish young people wishing to continue their secondary education. When France

14022-506: Was no will on the part of the principal League powers, Britain and France, to subordinate their interests to a multilateral process or to disarm at all themselves. The Spanish Civil War proved a major test for international pacifism, and the work of pacifist organisations (such as War Resisters' International and the Fellowship of Reconciliation ) and individuals (such as José Brocca and Amparo Poch ) in that arena has until recently been ignored or forgotten by historians, overshadowed by

14145-604: Was not entirely frowned upon throughout Europe. It was considered a political stance against costly capitalist-imperialist wars, a notion particularly popular in the British Liberal Party of the twentieth century. However, during the eras of World War One and especially World War Two , public opinion on the ideology split. Those against the Second World War, some argued, were not fighting against unnecessary wars of imperialism but instead acquiescing to

14268-404: Was open in both a material and an educational sense: it had no walls or gates, and students were encouraged and expected to govern themselves to a significant extent. The school's pacifist and activist origins, its summer work-camps, remote location, and somewhat spartan living conditions for boarding students, encouraged a situation in which teachers and students lived, ate, and worked together in

14391-446: Was opened in 1953; the science labs in 1957; and a new, relatively comfortable girl's dormitory (Milflor) in 1959. In its first decades especially, the Collège developed a collective culture distinct from that of other secondary schools. It was a co-educational school from the beginning; male and female students were mixed together in a manner that was relatively rare in French schools, and especially in French boarding schools. The school

14514-616: Was overrun by Nazi Germany in 1940, the mission to resist the Nazis became increasingly important. Believing in the same ideas as former Pastor Charles Guillon , André and Magda Trocmé became involved in a network organizing the rescue of Jews fleeing the deportation efforts of the Nazi implementation of their Final Solution . Following the establishment of the Vichy France regime, Trocmé and other area ministers serving other parishes encouraged their congregations to shelter "the people of

14637-474: Was part of the French national education system and was secular. It was organized as an “établissement privé sous contrat d'association” (a private school associated by contract with the state), a category of French schools that are privately managed, but bound to the national system by contracts which provide basic funding and teacher's salaries, and require adherence to national curricula and other standards. On February 9, 2014, President Andre Gast announced that

14760-605: Was split between his mother's German heritage and his half-French brothers. His views on pacifism came to fruition when he met a young soldier. They spoke a great deal, and the young soldier told him about the ideals of non-violence, influencing Trocmé greatly. The young soldier was killed in battle later on, and Trocmé took pacifism more seriously. When his hometown was bombed in 1917 by the Germans, he and his family were evacuated to southern Belgium as refugees. This gave Trocmé an understanding of what it meant to be poor, contrast to

14883-624: Was spread as far as Gibraltar and Malta, describing the horrors of war and advocating pacificism on Christian grounds. The London Peace Society (also known as the Society for the Promotion of Permanent and Universal Peace) was formed in 1816 to promote permanent and universal peace by the philanthropist William Allen . In the 1840s, British women formed "Olive Leaf Circles", groups of around 15 to 20 women, to discuss and promote pacifist ideas. The peace movement began to grow in influence by

15006-557: Was still able to keep the rescue and sanctuary efforts running smoothly with the help of many friends and collaborators. After the war, André Trocmé and his wife Magda served as co-secretaries for the International Fellowship of Reconciliation , Europe. During the Algerian War , André and Magda set up the group Eirene in Morocco, with the aid of the Mennonites , to help French conscientious objectors . They also advocated for

15129-710: Was the Association Unifiée du Collège Cévenol (AUCC). Its meetings assemble representatives of alumni organizations and several French and international Protestant relief organizations. An Association des Anciens du Collège Cévenol (AACC) now provides organization for meetings and fundraising among alumni in France and Europe, beginning with a 70th Anniversary weekend held in Chambon in May 2009. The APCC (Association des Parents du CC) provided information and networking for parents of enrolled students. The American Friends,

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