39 pair of boots, representing 39 Oklahomans killed thus far in Iraq
After midday, the reason for this became clear. During the service, the village council, seated between machine-gun-armed police, had received from the police chief of the Haute-Loire department instructions to sign an "Appeal to the Jewish Refugees," which asked Jews to present themselves at the town hall for a recensement (census). When he saw this "appeal," Trocme' thought, A fine census this is, with two or three buses standing in the market square, ready to take them away for deportation! It later became clear that a summer resident of Le Chambon had consented to be the author of this treacherous appeal, which began, "Measures indisputably understandable...."
--Philip Hallie, Lest Innocent Blood be Shed, 1979, 111. [more to follow]
--Philip Hallie, Lest Innocent Blood be Shed, 1979, 111. [more to follow]
