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Cimade


The Cimade is a French NGO founded at the beginning of the World War II by French Protestant student groups, in particular the Christian activist and member of the French ResistanceMadeleine Barot, to give assistance and support to people uprooted by war, in the first instance those who were evacuated from the French provinces of Alsace and Lorraine located on the border with Germany. Under German occupation, the Cimade continued its operations, working with refugees, many of whom were Jewish, who, having fled from Germany and other war affected European countries, were interned in Southern France. Later they were active in underground work that provided protection for Jews in France. Today, they continue their work with uprooted people, especially undocumented immigrants in France.

In 1939, many French citizens from Alsace and Lorraine mainly Protestants were evacuated away from the border with Germany to Southwestern France. In October 1939 several Protestant youth movements set up the Comité inter-mouvements auprès des évacués (Cimade) whose main function was to set up teams that would live among and assist the displaced in the camps.

After the German invasion in 1940, the focus changed to working with the many refugees from the rest of Europe who were interned by the French government in camps in Southern France. Pressure by Cimade officials on the government resulted in permission for the team members to live as well as work in the camps.

In 1942 deportations of Jews to Germany (and beyond) greatly accelerated and Cimade teams in many cases went underground, working closely with local Protestant parishes to hide Jews and finally to smuggle them toward Spain and particularly Switzerland where the Cimade worked closely with the developing ecumenical movement which became the World Council of Churches in 1948.


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