France's unique Protestants

Few people realize that overwhelmingly Catholic France has a unique Protestant tradition. The belief that Man is saved by faith, not works, implied that the Church was not needed for salvation. Result: frightful civil wars in the 16th century and exodus in the 17th. Protestants returned officially only toward 1780.

Although they represent only 2% of today's population, they are important because:

When the Sun King sent dragoons to force conversions (in 1684) many Protestants fled the kingdom in an exodus that accounts for most French names outside the country (including "New Rochelle" in Connecticut, which is named after La Rochelle, a Protestant stronghold).

Memory of persecution has lasted. It is the reason for which many French Protestants tend to side with the weak and is the backdrop for the most important Rescue of World War 2.

They are France's sole indigenous minority.

• People who lived outside the ramparts (walk) 

Saint-Germain-des-Prés, site of "Little Geneva" and now an area celebrated for its bookstores and art galleries, is where our tour begins. We discover a surprising segment of the 13th-century ramparts and explain how the town walls and Protestants connect – and how that connection is at the heart of Saint-Germain's uniqueness.

•Hidden, splendid and serene, the Protestant Library nestles there...

The new religion implied questioning and going directly to the Bible for answers, which meant knowing how to read. Those are reasons why in France many intellectuals adopted Protestantism and it is fitting that its main secular landmark in Paris should be a library.

• France's two historic minorities, Protestants and Jews ...

have points in common. They can be a subject for discussion.