7 April 2018
On 10 June 1944, the village of Oradour-sur-Glane in Haute-Vienne in Nazi-occupied France was destroyed, when 642 of its inhabitants, including women and children, were massacred by a German Waffen-SS company.
A new village was built nearby after the war, but French president Charles de Gaulle ordered the original maintained as a permanent memorial and museum.
On 10 June 1944, the village of Oradour-sur-Glane in Haute-Vienne in Nazi-occupied France was destroyed, when 642 of its inhabitants, including women and children, were massacred by a German Waffen-SS company.
A new village was built nearby after the war, but French president Charles de Gaulle ordered the original maintained as a permanent memorial and museum.
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Around the village placards explain in French where specific events occurred, or the identities of various residences/businesses/institutions. These placards explain that 59 men were massacred here, while 6 managed to escape.
With gas rationing, and also to protect them from 'war', auto owners from around the area stored cars en masse in the village.
With gas rationing, and also to protect them from 'war', auto owners from around the area stored cars en masse in the village.
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The Catholic Church where the women and children were massacred.
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It became curious to us as to why there were so many sewing machines scattered throughout the village - many in an essentially posed condition. We couldn't be sure whether these were original to the event, or placed there after the village was developed into a memorial. Whether they be staged or real, supported in either way, descriptions of them from internet sources suggest a portrayal that the victims were not warriors, but innocents, engaged in trying to live as normal a life as possible during war.
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The village's original cemetery became an enlarged memorial garden to the lost villagers.
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Past Gerri's left shoulder is the new church at the edge of the new village of Oradour-sur-Glane, where about 2,200 people now live. This sewing machine was amongst personal items placed in a walk-in crypt in the middle of the cemetery.
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Adjacent to the ruined village, the Centre de la mémoire d'Oradour (the memorial center of Oradour) commemorates the crimes of the 2nd armored division of the Waffen-SS "Das Reich" in Oradour-sur-Glane, informs about the crime, and acts as a memorial for coming generations.
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We lodged in Limoges for the evening, before a long day of medieval villages tomorrow.
Limoges-Bénédictins is the main railway station of Limoges.
We lodged in Limoges for the evening, before a long day of medieval villages tomorrow.
Limoges-Bénédictins is the main railway station of Limoges.
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