Today, being Armistice Day, we drove to Oradour Sur Glane, a small village in the Haute Vienne near Limoges. Many of you will already know about the history of this village, but for those of you that dont, here is a brief summary. On 10th June, 1944 the S.S. rounded up all the inhabitants of the village in the square on the pretext of checking their identity papers. The men were then herded into barns and shot, the women and all the children, including newborns, were herded into the village church and locked in. The Church was then set on fire by means of grenades and the women and children were burned alive. The S.S. then proceeded to torch every single building in the village. Today it is a memorial site, and has been left as it was. of course over the years, the buildings have begun to crumble, but are still recognisable as dwellings and businesses. Even the cars, trucks, tools of their trade, everything were burned and are still there. The village is kept very clean and tidy, with lawns cut regularly and the trees (the few that are left) have been tended. It wasnt really depressing, as one might imagine, but it was certainly sobering. We were struck by how plaques had been placed on buildings showing what business it had been and the name of the proprietor wherever possible. We spent around two hours or more wandering through the village, we went into the underground memorial centre where many personal artifacts have been displayed. There were spectacles, toys, Scissors, little ornaments, bottles and jars (which had melted and fused together from the heat), all kinds of things. It was both fascinating and very, very sad. We did take photographs, but i dont feel comfortable (I dont really know why) about putting them on Facebook, but if anyone would like to see some of them, please message me with your email address, and Ill forward them on to you.
Posted on: Mon, 11 Nov 2013 19:38:22 +0000
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