Le Chambon-sur-Lignon
March 2, 1943
Madeleine Dreyfus had managed to escape the clutches of Klaus Barbie. A French woman who cleaned the Gestapo building had gotten ahold of the key to Madeleine’s cell and helped her escape. Madeleine, bewildered and internally destroyed, was cognizant enough to make her way to Élisabeth Hirsch’s house. Élisabeth took her friend to a convent where she could hide in safety. Meanwhile, Élisabeth processed false identification papers for Madeleine and arranged for her to be escorted to a remote area in the Alps region of France, the village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon.
That place was a paradise of healing for Madeleine. The Protestant pastor André Trocmé and his wife, Magda, welcomed her as their own daughter.
Nearly the entire community was dedicated to helping Jewish children suffering the effects of the war. Madeleine’s emotional and physical wounds healed as she began to work as a bridge between Lyon and Le Chambon-sur-Lignon.
“How are you, dearie?” Magda asked one day as Madeleine was sorting out the paperwork for some of the children they had recently received for shelter.
“I was thinking about Lyon and everything that happened last August. Sometimes I wish I’d never gotten involved. It came with a very high price tag.”
Magda took a seat beside her.
“That’s true. You paid for it.”
“But then I think about the suffering of those parents. I had to ask them to give up their children! And they knew they’d never see them again.”
Magda closed her eyes and shook her head. “I can’t even imagine what they were going through. If someone took my children, I’ve no idea what I’d be liable to do.”
“Sacrifice is a difficult road, but it takes us to places beyond selfishness. Every night I remember the faces of those children and wonder about their lives now. If we hadn’t done something, they would’ve been killed.”
Magda put her hand on Madeleine’s shoulder. “We can’t save the whole world, but each one of us, in little ways each and every day, ends up making a big difference. Back in the day, my family had a hard go of it when they had to leave everything behind in Russia. But when I look back on it, if it hadn’t been for the suffering they faced, I would never have ended up here, never have met André, perhaps never have dedicated my life to helping others. As aristocrats, my family had it all, but maybe not the most important thing: love. We can’t take anything from this world with us, but the love we’ve sowed will endure.”
Madeleine smiled at her friend. She had also sowed love. The harvest had produced something greater than what she had been forced to sacrifice. Klaus Barbie had stolen her innocence and damaged her body, but she knew that her soul was intact. He, on the other hand, was a vile and selfish being incapable of love. One day he would have to pay for what he had done, whether in this world or the next. Madeleine did not hate him and had managed to forgive him. She knew that forgiveness sets the victim free from the prison of hatred and bitterness in order to love again.
“This, too, shall pass,” Magda said, as if reading Madeleine’s mind.
“Sometimes I think it would be better if it doesn’t pass. I’ve never felt so happy and full of life.”
The two women sat together in silence, musing over how much they had received from giving themselves to their neighbors. It had been entirely unexpected. If they had known earlier, they would have done even more for others. They had learned that happiness was found in the face of a child or anyone who needed their help.