World War II And Nazi Control

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Do unto others what one would want done unto him or herself. In World War II with Nazi control in much of Europe, even if individuals had problems with how certain people were being treated, not many actually took action. A particular person who decided to counter the flow of what was accepted, was Pastor André Trocmé. That particular pastor was a member of a small French village, Le Chambon-sur-Lignon. There, many Jewish people were housed and protected as much as the small community could provide from their Nazi persecutors; who otherwise would have put into concentration camps or in some cases death camps. The entirety of the village needed to work together in order to achieve the pursuits they hoped to accomplish. The level of their…show more content…
Pastor André Trocmé was a great example of a prophet as Heschel understood them, due to his involvement within the village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon during World War II, and the long-term effects he had on the world. Pastor André Trocmé had been almost exactly what Heschel had defined a prophet as being. According to Heschel, “The prophet is an iconoclast, challenging the apparently holy, revered, and awesome” (Heschel, 12). In essence, this means that a prophet is someone who challenges any beliefs that the general public may hold as infallible. Pastor André Trocmé did just that throughout his involvement in World War II. He had questioned the popular belief that the socialist party was correct in the entirety of the ideas that they presented to the public, even though that belief may have been rooted in fear, very few people had the audacity to contradict what the socialist party fundamentally stood for. By harboring Jewish or otherwise persecuting individuals, even though the pastor may not have publicly spoken about his efforts to protect those specific persons, he spoke through his actions and to his village. “ André Trocmé, a committed pacifist, embarked on a campaign of peaceful civil disobedience against the authorities” (The United States Holocaust Museum).That further shows that even though Trocmé wanted change in the way people handled themselves, he thought that actions ultimately spoke louder than words and it was
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