September 13, 2019
Oradour-Sur-Glane
Souviens-Toi
Like most Americans, had never heard of Oradour-Sur-Glane, that is until I read about here, in a journal posting by Keith Klein this past August (What to do between doctor’s visits, part 2). After reading his moving account, I knew I had to include a visit to the memorial on this bike tour. I apologize if the subject matter is too difficult or my comments too political.
To summarize the events of June 10, 1944, a German Waffen SS battalion surrounded and sealed off the village of Oradour-Sur-Glane and assembled everyone in the village square, which include six people who happened to be bicycling through the village. Women and children were then locked in the church and the men were divided into groups and placed into barns or sheds where they were told to wait on the pretense of searching the village for guns. On signal, the SS men began to shoot the men and then set them on fire. An incendiary device was placed at the church and set afire, causing asphyxiation of the women and children. Those who tried to escape were shot. The SS then looted and burned the town. In just a few hours, 642 people - 190 men, 247 women, and 205 children - had been massacred and a village destroyed. Charles de Gaulle decided the village should not be rebuilt, but serve as a reminder of what happened. The ruins remain as both a memorial to those who died and to represent places of similar atrocities.
Bicycle touring can allow one to experience a diversity of landscapes and people, whether in your own country or in far-away places. It can also be a vehicle to explore the past, be it ancient history, more recent events, or even your family ancestry. Most often, the experiences are positive, even celebratory, as we discover what the human body and mind are capable of achieving. But it is sometimes important to remember not only what humans can and have achieved, but also what we have wrought. Facing past atrocities provides a window into what humans are capable of doing, and hopefully guard against such horrors in the future.
It has been while bicycle touring that I have visited three memorials where human atrocities were committed against civilian populations: the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria, the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and now Oradour-sur-Glane in France. Each of these places memorialize horrors that occurred in the recent past, within the last 75 years. At each site, it was the personal things that most touched me, the objects and possessions that speak to a common experience. What broke my heart and went straight to my soul was looking into the faces of those lost, of seeing that we are more alike than not.
I visited the Martyr Village of Oradour-sur-Glane on a bright, sunny day, which contrasted the somberness of the memorial. Thus, the pictures I share are in black and white, most without captions.
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Thanks for the shout out. I think your b and w pix capture the mood of the site very well. It still makes me weepy.
Keith
5 years ago
I first heard about this massacre just a few months ago when I read a fictional treatment of WWI spies called The Alice Network by Kate Quinn. The story of Oradour-Sur-Glane plays a role. Then there was Keith's post a few months later, and now you have been there. It's astounding what we humans are capable of. This site is a remarkable memorial.
5 years ago
5 years ago
5 years ago