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.
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It's a free resource that delivers positive news stories of hope and inspiration, with free printable worksheets and discussion prompts.
When you watch the news, it's easy to believe everything is getting worse.
It's not.
Since it’s that time of year, here are 39 good news stories that you didn’t hear about in 2023.
Let’s go 🧵
1. More girls are getting an education
This year, UNICEF reported there are 50 million more girls in school compared to just ten years ago. Girls are also graduating at higher levels, with 89% completing primary school and 61% completing high school.
Education for the win!
2. More Oceans are Being Protected
This year, countries committed more than $20 billion in funding towards ocean conservation. And over a million square kilometers of ocean was formally protected off the coasts of Kenya, Ireland, Australia, Panama, Chile, and Papua New Guinea.
Everyone knows that the media is built on negativity. Without it, they wouldn’t exist.
We’ve been saying for years that their negativity is actually killing us. To prove it, we did a small experiment.
The results were disturbing.
A Goodable Thread 🧵
We wanted to see just how addicted the world’s top news sites are to negativity, so we ran an audit. We focused on only the biggest news sites, which included:
Apple
Google
Yahoo
ABC
CNN
Together, they have over a billion visitors per day.
Here’s what we found 👇🏼
Of the top 30 news stories on Apple, only two were about positive things in the world.
Just two.
Their top headlines were about flooding and Ukraine. It got so depressing we had to stop.