Marc Donadille was a protestant minister in the Cevennes district of France during the time of the Holocaust. He as a protestant had a strong belief that "it was inadmissible to persecute people because of their race or religion. He became aware of the anti-semitism in Germany as he studied in Geneva. He started working with CIMADE which was an organization working on helping save the Jewish people. He picked up up Jews from camps and hid them in the churches and farms in Cevennes and villages in Le Chambon.
What was interesting to me as I read this mans story was that there were rescue houses along the way to safety for people to stop and rest, eat, sleep and feel safe for a night. I did not know that people offered their homes like this. I think this was a really easy and helpful way to be involved in saving the Jews without really doing something bigger or too risky like hiding them away for months.
Marc also made fake I.D papers for Jewish refugees. He was carefully watched by policemen but never arrested for helping the jews. He discuses that getting caught never haunted him or worried him. I believe he wasn't worried because in his heart he knew he was doing the right thing and helping hundreds of people save their lives.
Another thing I found interesting and also a little humorous was the naive people that Marc encountered while helping the jews. He describes a time on a train, someone was talking about a pastor who was hiding jews in Cevennes. Marc simply replies, "You shouldn't say that. That pastor can get in trouble for that." The man not knowing that he was talking to the pastor himself very annoyingly reply "You can get in trouble for that?"
This was a tad humorous and unbelievable to me that someone could be so blind to what was going on in the world at the time of the Holocaust. Was he even thinking about saving the jews? or was he just oblivious to what was happening to Jews and caught rescuers.
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