Oradour-sur-Glane: Lest We Forget the Cruelty Brought on by Intolerance

My first encounter with Oradour-sur-Glane came when researching a project for a French class in 2010. Fascinated yet horrified best describes my reaction. This past autumn we spent some time in this area of France and visited the “new” Oradour-sur-Glane as well as the obliterated village. Words cannot describe the feelings that transpired as we walked the empty streets.

Entering the village of Oradour-sur-Glane

Our Visit to Oradour-sur-Glane

Misty rain provided a somber atmosphere. We felt very isolated and alone as we wandered these abandoned streets as there were few other visitors. We knew the basic history from the visitor’s center and from my prior studies. However, being there, was an entirely different experience.

One of the few visitors besides us: what a contrast her pink umbrella proved to be.

To see the tram rails and electric wires still standing some 73 years later amidst the crumbling buildings was surreal. The electric tram connected Oradour-sur-Glane with Limoges, making multiple daily runs.

The tram tracks and electric lines still remain, a memory of the time when the tram connected the village to Limoges

Several cars remain and they are predominant in the photos you find of Oradour-sur-Glane.

Petrol pump

Small metal marker on the petrol pump.

I would conjecture that bicycles and the tram were the major source of transportation at this time period.

It was not difficult to distinguish between homes and businesses. I think it would be safe to comment that virtually every home had a sewing machine.

Farm implements

As far as the war was concerned, this little village was off the beaten track. According to Robert Hébras, one of six survivors, the village was a “haven of peace for refugees”. Hébras noted that the Germans had been to the town only once, 2-3 years before and had merely passed through without stopping.

A scale in the butcher’s shop

No one knows exactly why this attack on Oradour-sur-Glane transpired – one can only speculate. Hébras speculated in his book:   Two days before the massacre, the Resistance had destroyed a nearby bridge, killing two German soldiers. Perhaps, he speculates, the Waffen S.S. (German protective squadron) was trying to teach the Resistance a lesson. No one will ever know.

The signs locating the points of the massacre were sobering.

Sign translation:
Place of Torture
A group of men were massacred and burned by the Nazis
Reflect on this

Over the course of a few hours, the massacre of 642 men, women, and children transpired here by the  German SS.

The front of the boulangerie. To the back, the stone ovens were still visible.

Oradour-sur-Glane : A Survivor’s Account

What follows is from a book by Hébras titled Oradour-sur-Glane: The Tragedy Hour by Hour (an affiliate link)

Early afternoon, the Germans surrounded the village taking everyone to the village green. The implication was that this was a simple identity check. Remember the date, 10 June 1944, four days after the Allied landing in Normandy.

“I would also like to point out that, during the events leading up to the massacre, I did not sense the slightest sign of brutality on the part of the Germans.”(R.H.)

Hébras relates how he and a friend talked about an upcoming football game during this roundup. Even after the  women and children were separated from the men and the men divided into smaller groups  and taken to area barns, Hébras relates that he and his friends continue discussing the upcoming football match. Would the Allied landing force the postponement of the match the next day?

In Laudy’s barn, where their group was taken, he relates hearing an explosion at which time the men in the barn are gunned down. Because he hit the ground as soon as the guns began shooting, he miraculously ended up on the bottom of a stack of bodies, wounded but not mortally. The SS covered the bodies with hay and set a fire. Waiting until suffocation was virtually imminent, Hébras crawled out. He then relates his discovery of four other surviving men and their subsequent escape. There were 6 sites of execution here in Oradour-sur-Glane and only 5 men survived, those from Laudy’s barn.

The Women and Children of Oradour-sur-Glane

Hébras’ book also includes a testimony by Madame Rouffanche, the only woman to survive. The women and children were locked in the church and incinerated. She escaped by feigning death when her daughter was shot. Using the cloud of smoke as cover, she hide behind the main altar. She escaped through a high window, falling 10 feet to the ground below and then hid in a nearby garden.

The incineration of women and children happened here.

This was a large sanctuary, but just imagine the women and children locked in here with a blazing fire. Even thought the roof no longer exists, I had such a claustrophobic feeling as I thought about what had transpired in this holy place.

This photo and the next are views looking out from the front of the church.

Six survivors out of 642 people: “In the euphoria of the Allied landings, the tragedy of Oradour went almost unnoticed by the world…..Oradour, with its ruins, its 642 victims and its handful of survivors, was rather forgotten by everyone.” (R.H.)

After plundering the village, the SS set fire to the houses. Nothing remained. All of this devastation occurred on a Friday; the following Monday the SS returned and dug two huge communal graves.

Conclusion

Paraphrased from segments of  Hébras’ book, there is no other way I could begin to relate the horror of this event. If I have made an error in wording to imply something other than what Hébras relates of his experience as a 19 year old, I apologize to the reader. My intent is to be as straightforward as possible.

“I wanted to tell the story as clearly as possible, so that generations to come might understand how the tragedy unfolded, and realise just how people may suffer from the savage cruelty which springs from intolerance, be it religious or political. May it help in remembrance, so that such things may never again occur.” Robert Hébras