Oradour-sur-Glane

Photographer E. Panda.

If you've ever seen the superb documentary "The World At War" then you no doubt recall the opening scene which describes the atrocities which took place in a small French town in the summer of 1944. A town which was left as the Nazi's left it, and is today a "martyr village" - a testament to all who lost their lives in World War II. And most of all those who perished within the town itself.

For years I had wanted to see this strange ghost town which lies about 15 miles north-west of the city of Limoges in south-central France. This summer I did, and if you ever have the chance I highly recommend it.

Strangely, few people, or at least not enough, are aware of Oradour's existance. People in Limoges itself seemed quite baffled when I asked them how I could get there without a car. (I had taken the train to Limoges.) This could be based on my beyond terrible French pronunciation, I actually had to write the name down more than once, or the fact that there are numerous Oradour-something-or-others not only in France but in the general vicinity of Limoges.

Five times a day a bus leaves from a small bus center in the middle of town, Winston Churchill Square it's called. For thirty minutes you wind around small roads into the countryside, and all of a sudden it's there on your right. The remains of a village that had thrived for centuries, but is now nothing but a shell of collapsed walls and isolated chimneys. A little further on is the new Oradour-sur-Glane, a planned community built in the early fifties which is deliberately colorless.

Entrance to the village is free but is only accessible through a museum that links the new Oradour with the old. The museum is quite good and includes various exhibits, documents, films etc. What is unique about this particular museum is that once you've seen the exhibition you then see the actual place, in much the same condition as it is shown in 60 year old photographs.

It's difficult to describe the emotion one feels when you walk into a place like Oradour. Most of the visitors are French, and I imagine many of them still feel hatred and anger. Which is understandable. On June 10th, 1944, four days after the allies landed in Normandy, a group of soldiers of the 2nd Waffen SS Panzer Division "Das Reich" arrived in Oradour. They said they were looking for members of the resistance, whom they called terrorists. They also said that weapons were hidden in the town. They ordered the entire population to assemble in the market square, more than usually were in town as tobacco rations were being given out that day, and divided the women and children from the men. The men were taken to barns and warehouses and shot, then the buildings were torched. The women and children were taken to the village church, there they were shot, the SS used explosives and grenades as well, they were locked inside and the church was burned. (It was later discovered that the SS had shot at knee level.) The town was plundered and eventually burned to the ground. Family members arriving later in the village by tram were also shot. All told 642 people were killed. There had been no members of the resistance and there had been no weapons. Although, the head officer of the SS unit did file an official report stating that, "The women and children were scared and fled to the church where a munitions supply accidentally exploded...killing them all."

Walking amongst the ruins of such terrible scenes one has a surreal sense of the reality of the events. Cars are left in garages and on the street, signs still hang outside the local mechanics building, and sewing machines and bicycles lay strewn on the grass which was once someone's living room. The tram tracks still exist, but run nowhere. The church still stands, with it's roof gone. The skeletal outlines of tables and chairs still stand inside the cafés, and the post office still bares the barely legible remains of the town name. But everything is dead. Everything except the town cemetery which is still used by the the new Oradour, and is the site of the mass grave and monument that commemorates those who died.

More information can be found here.

K Panda