An important chapter in the history of ecumenism of the last century, the "parable" of Taizé still lacks a rigorous historical reconstruction. Based on a significant amount of unpublished sources, this volume offers two initial results of a multi-year research project on the history of the Taizé community, from its beginnings, in the years of World War II, until the construction of the many informal networks of friendship intertwined for more than twenty years amongst Christians divided by the Iron Curtain. A first study focuses, in particular, on the years of training of Roger Schutz in Lausanne, as well as the birth of a first confrérie and his arrival in Burgundy in the summer of 1940. A second study, on the other hand, describes in detail the dynamism of an ecumenical community in the years marked by the announcement and in expectation of the Second Vatican Council.