La COSTETTE is situated on the Plateau Midi of Auvergne, Protestant land where its hospitality is historic.
This region has known difficult times during wars of religion: gallows, arrests, condemnations to the galley and forced renunciations. Having been marked by this period, this land inhabited by discreet people have developped a spirit of solidarity and mutual support, present until now. This spirit is founded in the biblical text about 'the sermon on the mount' and 'the beatitudes' to welcome the most insignificant and the weakest.
At the time of the French Revolution, the priests that did not agree with the civil constitution came to hide here. At the end of the 19th century, the children from the mining settlements of Saint-Etienne, who had respiratory illnesses came to be treated. The alsacien refugees from the 1st World War as well as the spanish political exiles from 1937 were there to seek refuge. This land was also the one of the main headquarters of the resistance during the 2nd World War. In this period, the pastors asked the faithful ones in their churches to hide jewish children in their isolated farms. It was then that an organized network was created so that children could escape raids.
Chambon sur Lignon, which is 7 km from La Costette, is a big settlement well-known for the role in the hiding of the children. It is the only village to have received the medal of the Just, which is normally awarded to individuals. A lot of books have been written about it two films that we strongly recommend you watch to understand better, 'La Colline aux Milles enfants' and 'Les Armes de l'Esprit'. Today, a trail called 'le parcours de la mémoire' is organised by those who want to remember and to live the tolerance and the solidarity which inhabits this region.