Told with the full cooperation of many of the survivors, this is the story of WWII's greatest escape.
During the occupation of France in WWII the villages around Le Chambon-sur-Lignon pulled off an astonishing and largely unknown feat. Risking everything, they underwent a long-running battle of nerves and daring to hide 5,000 men, women and children, 3,500 of them Jews, from the Nazis and their Vichy stooges. Despite the danger, a whole community rallied together, from the pacifist pastor who defied orders to the glamorous female agent with a wooden leg, from the 18-year-old master forger to the schoolgirl who ran suitcases stuffed with money for the Resistance.
Told using first-hand testimonies of many of the survivors and face-to-face interviews conducted by the author, A Good Place to Hide is the thrilling story of ordinary people who thwarted the Nazis and sheltered strangers in desperate need.
A story resonant in our days, the age of refugees, and a grand narrative in its own right, all told with absorbing skill. Peter Grose's tale of the astounding rescue village of Chambon is a tale of the practical deliverance of the hunted from the Nazis. A book to cherish and recommend! Thomas Keneally, author of Schindler's Ark
Peter Grose is a former journalist, foreign correspondent, literary agent at Curtis Brown and publisher at Secker & Warburg. Until recently he was chairman of ACP UK. He now lives in France. www.petergrose.net
Über den Autor
Peter Grose
Klappentext
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.
