Leenhardt Roland

Leenhardt, Pastor Roland File 4444 Roland Leenhardt was the pastor of a Protestant church in Tence, a small town near Le Chambon-sur-Lignon. During the occupation, Tence was a center of French Resistance activity. Leenhardt, an active opponent of German policies in France, was a disciple of Pastor Louis Dallière (q.v.). Leenhardt orchestrated the rescue of Jews in Tence, and, in his Sunday sermons, at risk to his life, Leenhardt publicly condemned German atrocities and preached brotherly love and prevention of unnecessary bloodshed. André Chouraqui, a Jewish activist in the rescue of Jews in this area, described Pastor Leenhardt’s courageous deeds in his book L’amour fort comme la mort (Love is as strong as death). Thanks to Leenhardt’s activities, many Jews found shelter and refuge in Tence, particularly Jewish children who were transferred there by various rescue movements. Chouraqui himself, after fleeing from the Clermont-Ferrand area, turned to him for help. In certain cases, Leenhardt equipped Jewish refugees with false identity cards. He arranged forged papers and hiding places for the Weill family. In order to make it difficult to find the Weills, he hid the parents and children in different locations. On the day before Passover 1943, Leenhardt asked M. Weill to prepare a large quantity of matza (unleavened bread). Leenhardt distributed the matza among Jewish children sheltered with French families in the vicinity of Tence. On December 19, 1991, Yad Vashem recognized Pastor Roland Leenhardt as Righteous Among the Nations.