Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed

Hallie was Jewish, which the book mentions only in passing while describing Theis’s work with Cimade: “And, being a Jew, I have imagined vividly how other Jews must have felt walking beside Édouard Theis through danger toward safety” (233). Looking especially at discussions of religion and identity in the book, discuss how Hallie’s Jewish identity affected his treatment of the story of Le Chambon.

The book describes and discusses several people in some detail who aren’t key figures. Trocmé’s living children, Jacques and Nelly, are one example. The women who ran the pensions are another. Choose three of these individuals or groups of people and discuss their impact on Hallie’s discussion of Le Chambon, nonviolence, and ethics.

In several places, the text mentions the geography of the mountains in relation to Le Chambon. Find all the descriptions of the land and discuss how the geography affected both the efforts of the Chambonnais and the identity of the village as Hallie describes it.

Any literature that touches on the Holocaust seeks in part to maintain the cultural memory of the event—to ensure that it is never forgotten. Another purpose is to provide a space for processing and healing from what can only be considered a global trauma. Examine how Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed participates in this tradition of Holocaust literature, using specific examples from the text and other Holocaust literature to build an argument.

The Cévenol school figured prominently in Trocmé’s nonviolence teachings and service to Le Chambon. Hallie was a professor of ethics whose scholarship led him to write about Le Chambon. Write an essay exploring how the book portrays education and what role education can or should play in ethical questions like those raised in the book.

The book references several works of art or literature. Notably, one of the horrifying things the Nazis did during World War II was destroy many works of art. Write an essay discussing the impact of art on Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed, especially considering the threat that art and literature pose to authoritarian rulers.

In addition to describing the goodness of Le Chambon and sharing the tragedies of the war, the text highlights several figures who exemplify what Hannah Arendt called “the banality of evil” in Eichmann in Jerusalem. Choose at least two of these figures and examine how Hallie’s discussion of nonviolence and life-and-death ethics relates to their actions.

Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed mentions or discusses multiple religions in depth. These religions, their teachings, and their histories are all important in Hallie’s exploration of ethics. Choose three of these religions and explain how the book presents them, exploring how they impact Hallie’s larger arguments on morality and ethics.