The Children of Chabannes

The extraordinary true-life story of the rescue of 400 Jewish children during World War II and their subsequent hiding in the heart of Vichy France is the subject of The Children of Chabannes, a memorable, Emmy award-winning 1999 documentary, newly available on DVD. The children, who were mostly from Germany and Austria, arrived in the French village of Chabannes before the outbreak of war through the work of a Jewish humanitarian group called Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants, and were provided sanctuary in a chateau run by Felix Chevrier, a freemason whose notions of human dignity and religious tolerance were shared (somewhat remarkably) by his fellow villagers. Despite the emotional toll on the uprooted children (most of their parents were eventually killed in the Holocaust), Chevrier and his likeminded supporters did everything they could to maintain normalcy and foster compassion in the lives of their young charges, and when the Vichy government began to order the deportation of Jews to the Nazi death camps, the people of Chabannes refused to surrender the children. Co-directed by Lisa Gossels and Dean Wetherell, this memorable and often heartbreaking story is told by the surviving protectors and now-grown children, one of whom is Gossels' father. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. Aud: H, C, P. (P. Hall)