Goodable Profile picture
Jan 27, 2023 13 tweets 5 min read Read on X
During WW2, an entire village stood up to the Nazis.

It’s a story you’ve never heard of, in a town you’ve never been to.

Instead of fear and hatred, they chose kindness — and saved thousands of lives.

A Powerful Thread for #HolocaustMemorialDay
This is the village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon in Southern France.

It’s a picture perfect village on the rolling hills of the French countryside.

During WW2, when the villagers saw what the Nazis were doing, they knew they had to take a stand.
The village’s pastor, Andre Trocme, was a pacifist who had long preached against hate and discrimination.

Starting in 1940, he had already started secretly sending relief supplies to Jews held in concentration camps.

But Trocme wanted to do more.
He announced that if any Jewish refugee came to Le Chambon, they would be protected. He knew the Nazis would target him, but he didn’t care.

When the rest of the villagers found out, what did they do?

They stood by his side. That’s right, the entire village of 5,000 people!
Even the children of Le Chambon stepped up.

The Nazis had tried to start a youth camp in the village, but the kids refused.

No classes. No slogans. Nothing.

The kids said it was against their religion to support violence.
As WW2 continued, Jews that escaped concentration camps and refugees had nowhere to go. Word spread of a village where Jews would be protected.

The villagers took them in, hiding them in houses, schools, and even farms,

They gave them food, shelter, and fake identity papers.
Most of the refugees in Le Chambon were children.

Imagine losing your parents, and having nowhere to go?

The villagers made them feel safe, even enrolling them in school.

In their darkest time, the people of Le Chambon gave them whatever they could.

And that’s not all.
When the villagers got word of upcoming police raids, they would move the refugees further into the countryside.

When they needed to escape further, they helped them cross the border into Switzerland using underground routes.
In 1943, the Nazis arrested Pastor Andre Trocme and two other men who’d been rescuing Jews.

Even then, the villagers refused to stop.

Trocme’s wife took over and led the rescue efforts.
Over the course of four years, the village of Le Chambon sheltered nearly 5,000 people from the Nazis.

Every single person risked their lives – and in some cases, lost their lives – to protect the innocent.

To do what was right.
The people of Le Chambon were of different ages, beliefs, and probably even different political opinions. But none of that mattered. In that moment, they chose kindness.

They had a choice — and they chose to help.

There’s still a plaque in the village to this day!
Even in our darkest moments, the best of humanity always finds a way to shine through.

It’s what keeps goodness alive.

While you're here, you can do your part by following @AuschwitzMuseum, which preserves stories like this.

We must never forget.
And if you're an educator, please consider signing up for Goodable in the Classroom.

It's a free resource that delivers positive news stories of hope and inspiration, with free printable worksheets and discussion prompts.

Because every child matters.

goodable.co/education

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Goodable

Goodable Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @Goodable

Oct 10
The media are covering the devastation of hurricanes in the US.

You know what no one is covering?  All the heroes who came rushing to help.

So here's a Goodable 🧵
David Barcenas, a local cameraman, found a stranded and terrified kitten — then got on his hands and knees to save it.

During Hurricane Helene, this family dog found an 11-year old boy trapped under several feet of rubble.

He stayed by the boy's side and kept barking until help came.

He refused to leave without him.

wcnc.com/article/weathe…
Read 10 tweets
Sep 27
The Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards just announced their 40 finalists.

Here are the most hilarious.

A 🧵 Image
We've all had one of those days.

(©Milko Merchetti) Image
Maybe I will, maybe won't.

(📸 Arvind Mohandas) Image
Read 21 tweets
Sep 11
On this day, a tiny town in Canada opened up its hearts — and its homes — to 7,000 stranded passengers in a desperate time of need.

They didn’t care about politics, or who the President was. They did it because it's what Canadians do best.

A Goodable 🧵 Image
On the east coast of North America, there's a Canadian province called Newfoundland. It’s filled with cold winters, warm summers, and even warmer hearts.

The province has a small town called Gander. In the 1940s, its airport used to be one of the biggest in the world. Image
On September 11, 2001, it started out as a normal day.

People dropped off their kids, went to work, chatted with friends. The kind of things that happen everyday in small towns across Canada.

But in an instant, everything changed.

💔 Image
Read 17 tweets
Sep 4
We don't normally post about conflicts, but there's a war happening right now that you should know about.

It's happening right in the heart of America.

A 🧵 Image
This is Morehead City, North Carolina.

It's a quiet town with a population of less than 10,000. It's the last place you'd think a war would erupt, but it happened.

We've confirmed it with multiple sources.


Image
Image
Image
Image
It all started here at a joint called Ioanni's Grill.

They serve $5 house hi-balls and draft beer for $3.50.

The war didn't start because of immigration or politics, or even someone with a gun.

It started because of something innocent. Image
Read 15 tweets
Aug 29
Here are 10 towns that look like fairy tales.

🧵
Idstein, Germany. Image
Image
Image
Image
Lavertezzo, Switzerland Image
Image
Read 12 tweets
Aug 23
This is Robert Smalls.

His story is wild.

During the US Civil War, he taught himself to read, stole a confederate ship, sailed to freedom, rescued other slaves, bought his former master’s house, then got elected to Congress.

Yet most people have never heard of him.

A 🧵 Image
Smalls was born on a plantation in South Carolina and grew up working on the docks.

When the war erupted, the confederate army forced him to work on a steamship transporting confederate troops and weapons.

But Smalls had other plans. Image
One night, he asked the captain if he could bring his family to show them the ship.

After the soldiers left, he brought his family on board, hid them, and sailed the ship into confederate patrolled waters.

That’s not all. Image
Read 8 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(