Everybody knowing the parable of the Good Samaritan [339] must have fully understood that the last sentence of this message was a call to practical and effective acts of rescue, on behalf of those who had fallen "among thieves" and murderers.
No public protests were issued by the French Protestant Churches after that of September 22, 1942. On November 11, 1942, the Germans seized unoccupied France. The demarcation line had disappeared. The deportations continued.
c. Practical Help
It is difficult to assess the practical results of public messages such as the one mentioned above. They certainly made more impact than protests sent by Churches to the authorities. S. Lattes is of the following opinion:
"Also, as might have been expected, when the first anti-Semitic measures were taken by the Germans and the Vichy government, many authoritative voices, Catholic and Protestant, were raised in demonstration of their sympathy towards the Jews… These written manifestos had hardly any practical effect, but they were a display of true courage and by their distribution exercised a deep influence on the conscience of the French. They also afforded moral encouragement to the Jewish victims." [340]
L. Poliakov gives the following account of the results of the public appeal, made by Rev. Boegner in the name of his Church, and he also gives an interesting analysis of what moved the ordinary Protestant to help the Jews:
"A picturesque little town of 2,000, Chambon-sur-Lignon lies at the foot of Mont-Lisieux, in the centre of a little plateau almost exclusively inhabited by Huguenots. The word Huguenot immediately calls to mind the thousands of victims of persecution who, escaping from France in the 17th century, settled in Prussia, the Netherlands and the United States. One section, however, instead of leaving their country, fled to the savage region of Velay. Protected by practically impassable ravines, they hid in the woods, and remained faithful to their religion. Only in the 19th century were they able to resume their religious worship openly. This period of persecution has made them deeply pious, melancholic and austere; they are suspicious of any authority but unquestioningly follow their pastors. It is here that they have preserved almost intact the customs and virtues of the past centuries. <148> immediately after the terrible raids of July 1942, Pastor Boegner, President of the Federation of Protestant Churches of France, issued an appeal to all this followers, asking them to do everything in their power to help the Jews. The appeal was heeded. Nearly every Sunday the pastors of Chambon, Mazet and Fay-Le-Froid, exhorted their congregations to renewed efforts. The country-people never tried to evade their responsibility. The persecutions which their own grand-parents had suffered were still alive in their memory. They provided food and lodging for the persecuted; in certain small hamlets in the area there was not a single farm which did not give shelter to a Jewish family… On the evening, at the hotel May, I witnessed a spectacle typical of the whole region of Chambon: a social worker arrived with several children whose parents had either been deported or were in hiding in Marseille. They huddled together in fear, in a corner of the room. A couple of country people first came in. 'We should like a little girl of eight or ten,' explained the woman. Little Miriam is called. 'Would you like to go with this uncle and auntie?' Intimidated, the little girl does not answer, but she was muffled up in blankets and carried into the sledge; and so she left for a home where, until the end of the war, she would live a simple, healthy life with temporary foster parents. And as if by sleight of hand, all the other children were taken care of in the same way." [341]
Perhaps France was the only occupied country where an official Protestant organization rendered direct and practical help to the persecuted Jews. The Cimade [342] was a Protestant Youth organization which sent teams of young Protestants into the camps, in order to render relief to the internees. Miss Madeleine Barot, general secretary of the Cimade, states: "All racialism is inadmissable from the Christian point of view. It was necessary to give tangible signs of this conviction, to alert public opinion, to protest to the responsible authorities, to mobilize the forces of <149> Protestantism, and, above all things, to help those who suffered most." [343] The first relief team was installed in the camp of Curs. It was partly justified to the police by the presence of a number of baptized internees, who were registered as Protestants. "Our work was labelled as 'Protestant assistance', which was of a great help, though we ourselves did not even consider for one moment restricting our help to the Protestants." [344] Thanks to the financial support of the Ecumenical Committee for Aid to Refugees, Geneva, the number of rations to be distributed in Gurs could be increased. [345] In 1941, teams were also placed in the caps at Rivesaltes, Brens, le Recebedou, and Nexon. In the spring of 1942, the Cimade opened four houses (at Chambon-sur-Lignon, Tarascon, le Tarn and Marseilles) for the accommodation of old or sick people and women with little children, who were permitted to leave the concentration camp if an authorized organization took charge of them. The Swedish Church and the World Council of Churches rendered financial aid. [346]
The leaders of the Cimade permanently kept in touch with the Rev. Marc Boegner so that he, when he intervened with the Vichy Government, could make proposals which corresponded with the actual situation in the camps. [347]
After mass deportations had begun, the members of the Cimade became more and more involved in "illegal" activities. The Secretariat of the Cimade at Nimes provided false identity cards. "We set up a record by once producing fifty identity cards in one night." [348] Several members of the Cimade were active as guides, bringing refugees through the mountains to safety in Switzerland. "According to my estimations, we helped to evacuate about four hundred persons, from August, 1942, until December, 1943." [349] After the Swiss Government had ordered that refugees who had illegally entered into Switzerland be returned to France [350] the Rev. M. Boegner obtained in Berne the agreement that non-Aryans coming from France for whom he had given personal guarantee, would be admitted. [351] <150>