A Good Place to Hide

How one French community saved thousands of lives from the Nazis. In the upper reaches of the Loire lies an isolated plateau and the secluded village of Le Chambonsur- Lignon. The whole village was honoured not just by the French state, but with the distinction of Righteous Among Nations by the people of Israel. How they earned this is one of the great modern stories of heroism and courage.Right through the War the community pulled off the astonishing feat of saving the lives of 5000 men, women and children whose very existence was deemed to be unpalatable to the Nazi occupiers and their Vichy stooges. They achieved this through a long-running battle of nerves and pulling together. It took an extraordinary cast of characters to pull it off: the unswerving pacifist pastor; the glamorous female SOE agent with a wooden leg who armed and trained the Resistance on the Plateau; the 18-year-old Latvian Jewish typewriter repairman who forged 5,000 sets of fake papers; the 15-year-old schoolgirl who risked her life running suitcases stuffed with money for the Resistance. Told with the full cooperation of many of the survivors, this is the thrilling story of how a village defied the Nazis and offered kindness and hospitality to strangers in need.