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High in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyons, lay the Vivarais-Lignon plateau, comprising 22 communes, most of whose inhabitants are Protestant. Their pastors are strict Calvinists and thunder against sin, alcohol and dancing. During the 1940s they risked their lives, and in some cases forfeited them, in hiding Jews and leftists from the Vichy regime and, later, when the pretence of the “unoccupied zone” was abandoned, from the Gestapo. During the wars of religion in France they were hunted themselves, which probably deep down acted as a catalyst for them to hide those being hunted. It is a story of great bravery and sadness and shows once more the reality that most French people were collaborators, active or passive, of the regime until late in the occupation.
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