Last year during the 100 year commemorations of the beginning of World War I, there was a news presentation on Oradour-sur-Glane, in the Limousin region. It is a little town that was destroyed during World War II and has been left as is since 1944. I asked Anne if it would be possible to go, so we headed off this weekend.
I wondered at the time (mustn't have listened too intently to the news piece) why they preserved this village... after all, there must have been hundreds of villages destroyed by the Germans in World War II.
It wasn't until I arrived at the memorial site that I realised the actual horror that took place in Oradour on the 10th June 1944. It wasn't, in fact, victim to German bombings but a massacre on an unimaginable scale.
In Oradour, even during the war, life went on and it was a village that experienced little trouble. There were no resistance fighters and no touble between the inhabitants and the occupiers. But on the 10th of June, that would change. The village was surrounded by Nazi soldiers and vehicles and the townspeople were rounded up into the town square. But no one was particularly worried, they thought that their identity papers were going to be checked.
Translation: In this square the population was assembled.
In the village green, the population of the town was divided: men on one side, women and children on the other. The women must have been somewhat relieved when they, along with the children, were led to the church. The men were split into five groups throughout the village. Then at around 4pm an explosion in the village signalled the start of the massacre. The SS fired low at the men's legs until nothing moved. They then lit fires and the dying and mortally wounded were burnt alive.
From the inside of the church the women heard the rattle of the machine guns and knew their menfolk were being killed, but certainly could not imagine the horror of the scene. After hours of anguished waiting, the women saw the church door open. Were they going to be set free?
No, the two Germans that came in had already closed the door. They lit a fire near the communion table and left the building, locking the door behind them. The women and children were burnt alive in the church while the soldiers fired through the windows.
By pure miracle, five men and one woman managed to escape. Those returning to Oradour from Limoges that afternoon were prevented from doing so.
After a night of revellry, the German soldiers left the village and it was only in the early hours of the following day that people returned to Oradour and discovered the horror that had taken place - 642 townspeople massacred, the youngest eight days old. Whole families were decimated. Very few of the bodies could be identified.
I found this visit incredibly difficult. There were times where I had to just take time to shed a few tears. The church was particularly harrowing. How on earth could they commit that horror in a church? What really moved me was seeing the remains of the pram which, when found, contained the remains of a 10 month old baby.
The charred remains of some of the victims.
No one knows why exactly this massacre took place, the Germans have given many varying reasons, for example retribution for the wounding and killing of German soldiers. The best guess is that they wanted to make and example and terrorise the inhabitants of this region.
Translation: Here men committed the greatest offence against their mothers and all women - they did not spare the children.
After leaving Oradoar, we headed for Limoges, which is famous for its enamel and porcelain, before heading out for dinner. We enjoyed a delicious meal of Limousin beef.
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