Oradour-sur-Glane – Souviens toi Haute Vienne region of France, 400 km. (250 miles) south of Paris Sometimes travel takes the traveler to dark side of history.
Rob
and I had never heard of the little village of Oradour-sur-Glane until we
visited the site during our tour from Paris to the south of France. By
the time we left that afternoon, the tragic WWII story of the town and the
massacre of its people were seared indelibly into our memory.
We
began our visit in the Centre de la Memoire, the museum just outside the
village. The museum is built mostly underground, and the low outer walls
are cut through with angular red structures echoing the broken red walls we
would find in the town. Inside the museum, massive cement and silver metal
walls were filled floor to ceiling with photographs of the people of the town
going about their daily activities, the rise of the Nazi party, the village
after its destruction, and finally a long wall filled with the faces of the
people who died there.
Centre de la Memoire |
From the testimony of the few survivors of the massacre and other war records, historians have been able to document the events of that day. It was June, 1944. World War II in Europe was nearing an end. The June 6th D-Day invasion of Normandy had just occurred, and the Nazi soldiers in central France began their 645 km (400-mile) march north to help defend the coast. Along the way, they were frequently engaged in skirmishes with members of the French resistance. During one of these, the resistance succeeded in capturing Helmut Kämpfe, a high-ranking Nazi commander. Adolf Diekmann, commander of the Nazi troops in nearby Limoges, received a message that Kämpfe was being held in the town of Oradour-sur-Glane. Tragically for the villagers of Oradour, the message was incorrect. Some historians have speculated that Kämpfe was instead captured in the town of Oradour-sur-Vayres, about 15 miles away, but on June 10, Diekmann’s battalion invaded the wrong village, seeking revenge for Kämpfe’s capture.
After
watching a short film about the incident, Rob and I walked up the path and into
a small maze of streets lined with roofless and crumbling red brick and grey
stone buildings, blackened with soot, which have been preserved as evidence to
the events of that day. We started in the Champ de Foire, the town
marketplace, where all villagers, including 193 children, and a group of six
who had the misfortune to be bicycling through Oradour that morning, had been
ordered to report, “to have their papers checked.” A few suspicious souls
hid in their homes and escaped into nearby woods, but witnesses indicated later
that most were not concerned, just surprised by the sudden arrival of the Nazi
soldiers.
Once
assembled, the citizens were accused of hiding weapons and told they would be held
while soldiers searched their houses. Men were separated into six groups and
herded into barns and garages around town. Women and children were taken into
the church.
Rob
and I stood in the square and imagined it filled with the bewildered villagers,
from a one-week-old baby to people in their nineties, chattering with their
neighbors about the sudden disruption to their mid-day meal and unaware of what
the day would bring.
Newer signs indicated the locations of other atrocities of that day. Rob and I gripped each other’s hand tightly as we stopped in front of one of the barns where some of the men had been held. Upon a signal from their commanders, the soldiers first shot the men in the legs so they could not escape, then doused them in fuel and lit the barns on fire. A sign on the wall said, “Here - A Place of Torture. A group of men was massacred and burned by the Nazis."
At
the lower end of the village stands the stone church where the women and
children were taken. At 4:00 in the afternoon, soldiers set off an
explosion in the doorway of the church that filled the room with a black smoke
and sent the women and children into a panic. They were mercilessly shot
as they tried to escape through the tiny windows behind the altar. In
front of that bullet-scarred altar rests one of the most horrible reminders of
that dreadful day – the skeletal remains of a baby carriage. Rob gasped
quietly, saying, “I just can’t comprehend the inhumanity of the soldiers.
How can anyone disconnect their feelings when murdering a small child?”
Following the murder of the town's residents, the soldiers set fires to destroy both the buildings and the bodies of their victims.
As
we continued through the streets, the gloomy grey skies contributed to our
overwhelming sadness. When we reached the cemetery on the little hill at the
top of the town, where many of the gravestones contain photographs of both
adults and tiny children, we could no longer contain our tears.
Rob stands over the crypt containing the bones of the many victims who were so badly burned that they could not be identified. |
Six
hundred forty-two people were slaughtered that day. Twenty-six survived: nineteen who
had slipped away when the soldiers arrived, six men who crawled through rabbit
hutches at the back of a barn, and one woman, Madame Maguerite Rouffanche, who
was shot five time as she jumped from the narrow window behind the altar of the
church but managed to crawl into a garden to hide.
Following
the war, French President Charles de Gaulle decreed that France would maintain
the village just as the Nazis left it, as a testament to the atrocities of war
and as a memorial to the “Martyrs of Oradour.”
The
tour bus ride to our next destination was silent, each of us wrapped in our own pensive reflections about the day.
As
we rode, I wondered why the tragedy in Oradour-sur-Glane is unfamiliar to so
many of us outside of France. Perhaps because it was a small incident compared
to the death of millions. Perhaps because it involved no major battles or
well-known historical figures. For me, that makes it even more appalling…a
peaceful village doing its best to maintain normal life amid the chaos of war,
decimated in the space of a few hours.
When
I told the story of this tragic village, a friend commented, “We go on vacation
to relax and have a good time. We don’t go on trips to be sad. Why should we
visit depressing places like this?”
Why,
indeed? The large sign at the entrance to the ruins of Oradour-sur-Glane says “Souviens-toi.
Remember.” This echoes another saying associated with the Holocaust,
“Forgive, but never forget.” But the reality is, we do forget. Perhaps
some knowledge is so unspeakable, we choose to put it into a hidden compartment
of our minds to preserve our own sanity. It’s easy to do; it is normal, even
healthy. By that evening, our tour group was laughing again under the sunset’s
glow on the yellow stone buildings of Sarlat.
But
truly meaningful travel – travel that encompasses the full spectrum of history
and human experience – is more than an excuse to see famous sights, to enjoy
new foods, to “relax and have a good time.” The privilege of travel
brings with it a special responsibility. When our travels take us to the sites
of the darker events of the past, we can return home with the stories that help
the world remember.
For
an excellent history of the events of the day, see: History of Oradour-sur-Glane on June 10, 1944
Such a sad story. You’ve honoured the victims with your well-written story Joan. Thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteI've traveled in France but had not heard of Oradour-sur-Glane and the tragedy that befell the village. Thanks, Joan, for this moving account and for your reminder of our responsibility as citizens of the world. As always, your photos are stunning. xoA
ReplyDeleteOn 7 January 2005, United States notified its intention to attraction sure problems with regulation and authorized interpretations developed by the Panel. On 19 January 2005, Antigua and Barbuda notified its intention to attraction sure problems with regulation and authorized interpretations developed by the Panel. The 메리트카지노 Panel decided to exercise judicial financial system with respect to Antiguas claims under Articles XI (i.e. regarding funds and transfers) and XVII (i.e. regarding national treatment) of the GATS. The term additionally consists of many types of dice-based games, corresponding to liar’s dice, backgammon, threes, or hazard. This article focuses on the meaning of the term when it pertains to betting. In many countries, gambling remains to be considered to be unlawful, whilst in different countries such because the UK,it is authorized.
ReplyDelete