André, and his wife Magda, were Huguenots – French Reformed Christians. They were also pacifists.
During the Second World War, the Trocmés were in Le Chambon sur Lignon, where André served as co-pastor of the French Reformed Church. A farming village on a pine-studded plateau in the mountains of south-central France, Le Chambon became a magnet to a stream of refugees that included both French and foreign Jews.
The people of Le Chambon, with the Trocmés and Edouard Theis, the other co-pastor, protected those who reached their community. Estimates are that the 5,000 Jews were saved – one for each resident of the village.
Andre and Magda Trocmé later worked for the International Fellowship of Reconciliation.
First appearing in English in 1972, Jesus and the Nonviolent Revolution [PDF] continues its eloquent witness to the strength and power of nonviolence in the name of Jesus