French Resistance Figure. Born in St. Quentin, France, the son of Paul Trocmé and his second wife, Paula Schwerdtmann. He developed a conviction for pacifism and non-violence and was a conscientious objector during the first World War. After the war, he began studies in theology. In 1925, his studies took him to New York City where he attended the Union Theological Seminary. It was there he met like minded Magda Grilli di Cortona, whom he would later marry. Upon his return to France, his first church was in Sous-le-Bois, but he felt the hierarchy was too stifling. In the fall of 1928, he accepted a new position at Sin-le-Noble, he was reassigned again in 1934, and finally to Le Chambon-Sur-Lignon in southern France, a former bastion for Huguenot refugees. In 1938, he co-founded of the Collège Lycée International Cévenol. When France was occupied by the Germans in 1940, he urged his congregation to side with God over government, and preached non-violence and tolerance, urging them to aide the persecuted. Beginning that year, he and his wife began establishing systematic protections for Jewish and other refugees fleeing the Germans, and involved most of their community in the effort. When deportations of French Jews began in 1942, he urged his congregation to give shelter to "the people of the Bible." The Vichy authorities suspected what he was doing and demanded that he cease such activities. He responded; “A shepherd does not forsake his flock... I do not know what a Jew is. I know only human beings." In February 1943, he and two colleagues were arrested and interned at the Saint-Paul d’Eyjeaux detention camp. He was held for five weeks, when he was told he would be released if he signed an oath swearing to obey the Vichy government, he refused, and was later released without signing. Knowing he was being watched, he moved much of his activity underground and went into hiding, still managing to arrange for schools and children’s homes for refugees. By war's end, the pastor and his community had rescued an estimated 5,000 Jews through their efforts. After the war, he became the European secretary for the Fellowship of Reconciliation, an American-based pacifist group. He later became pastor of a church in Geneva. On January 5, 1971, Yad Vashem recognized André Trocmé as Righteous Among the Nations. The Yad Vashem recognized the community of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon as Righteous Among the Nations in 1988.