The sobering story of the Nazi obliteration of an entire village
\u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

A Moment of WW II Cultural History that Should Not Be Forgotten<\/h2>\n

I knew the “Oh, I see”\u00a0Moment\u00a0<\/strong>would be memorable. The lump in my throat began to build long before I got close to Oradour-sur-Glane.<\/p>\n

As the green of the Limousin countryside flew by and the road signs of well-known World War II French villages came and went, I was in full time-travel mode back to June 1944 . . . filled with a gut-wrenching sadness.<\/p>\n

The peaceful village of Oradour-sur-Glane, near Limoges, France
\u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

Time Travel to World War II<\/h4>\n

In France, the month of June delivers us back to memories of WW II. The D-Day landings were a dramatic turning point in the war. June 6 continues to live vividly in history. Many brave souls fought\u2014and died\u2014to change the destiny of the free world.<\/p>\n

Just four days later, another brutal and emotional event took place. A Nazi regiment (Waffen SS) heading north to Normandy massacred the men, women, and children in the village of Oradour-sur-Glane. Only a few survivors lived to tell the story.<\/p>\n

The main street of the village today
\u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

The Story of Oradour-sur-Glane<\/h4>\n

When I learned about Oradour, it was as if I\u2019d been given a mission. I wanted to tell the story for those who didn\u2019t know\u2014as a reminder of the consequences of hatred and war. (Although almost every French person knows the story, many non-French do not.)<\/p>\n

The village patisserie (pastry shop)
\u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

I also knew I had to visit the village, which, at de Gaulle\u2019s direction, has been kept exactly as it was on that tragic day. A memorial to the innocent martyrs\u2014victims of an unimaginable and savage slaughter.<\/p>\n

The dressmaker’s shop
\u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

A Town Full of Life<\/h4>\n

During the war, people came to Oradour from the surrounding cities and villages because of its peaceful nature . . . to picnic, to fish, to spend an afternoon in the quiet of the country.<\/p>\n

There were hotels, caf\u00e9s, and restaurants, as well as the daily life of a thriving working village. There was even a commuter tram line to Limoges.<\/p>\n

One of many caf\u00e9s
\u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

Although Oradour was a part of occupied France, it was a welcoming town that seemed relatively untroubled by the stresses of occupation.<\/p>\n

The tram station
\u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

Oradour\u2019s Destiny<\/h4>\n

All that changed on June 10, 1944. The Waffen SS regiment surrounded the town. They emptied the houses and businesses one by one and herded everyone to the main square. They said it was a simple identity check. Nothing indicated imminent danger.<\/p>\n

The Germans herded everyone in the village to the center of town, under the
guise of checking identity papers.
\u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

They separated the women and children from the men and led them away. Some of the more trusting men thought the women and children were being taken to a safer place. Some, however, sensed that the glances they shared with their loved ones\u2014as families were split apart\u2014were meaningful final moments.<\/p>\n

The Fate of the Men<\/h4>\n

The men were divided into six groups and taken to barns and garages throughout the village. Soldiers and machine guns kept each of the groups under control.<\/p>\n

A garage where one of the six groups of men was taken
\u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

The men had no reason to believe they would be harmed. The Germans said they were searching for weapons caches in each house, and the men knew they would not find any.<\/p>\n

Just an hour after the separation of the men and women and children, an explosion was heard\u2014a preplanned signal for the regiment.<\/p>\n

Remains of the Laudy barn
\u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

The soldiers fired on the men at all six locations. It happened quickly. Every man was killed, except for six survivors at the Laudy barn, who pretended to be dead. One of these men was later shot.<\/p>\n

The Germans then set fire to the buildings. The survivors of the Laudy barn escaped through a small door in the back of the barn.<\/p>\n

The village church
\u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

The Fate of the Women and Children<\/h4>\n

When the women and children were separated from the men, they were led to the village church. They, too, had no reason to believe they would be harmed.<\/p>\n

However, when the regiment signal sounded, the soldiers guarding the women and children ignited explosives, which engulfed the church in smoke and flames.<\/p>\n

Two children sought refuge in the church confessional. They did not survive.
\u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

Every woman and child was burned to death, except for Madame Rouffanche who, under cover of all the smoke in the church, hoisted herself through a high window above the altar and fell to the ground below. Wounded, she crawled to a garden where she hid until the next day when help arrived.<\/p>\n

Once sacred, it was here that the women and children were gathered and burned.
\u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

The Brutality of War<\/h4>\n

After this merciless massacre, the SS regiment set fire to every building in the town.<\/p>\n

In a few short hours, Oradour lost every trace of its families and its history\u2014without ever knowing why.<\/p>\n

The memorial tribute continues.
\u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

The few survivors were able to piece together many of the details of this tragic story. However, the conclusion is irrefutable\u2014642 men, women, and children died that day . . . for no reason.<\/p>\n

Oradour lost its families.
\u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

Visiting the Memorial<\/h4>\n

As I walked through the ruins of the village, I imagined the voices of people in the caf\u00e9s, the garages, the schools, the hairdressers, the blacksmiths, and the grocery stores.<\/p>\n

All the teachers and girls from the girls’ school were taken to the village church.
\u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

I heard the clatter of children riding bicycles on the streets and the hum of Singer sewing machines stitching clothes and curtains. I felt the rumbling of the tram on the rails.<\/p>\n

Metal and memories remain.
\u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

Like a WW II Stonehenge, remnants of the village rise up, standing defiantly against the sky even after 74 years.<\/p>\n

A WW II Stonehenge
\u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

There is a pervasive silence\u2014a reverence\u2014but plants poke through the empty windows and crumbling stones. Birds sing. There is life\u2014and hope\u2014even after so much death. And, surprisingly, there is forgiveness in the air.<\/p>\n

An Oradour carpentry shop sprouts new growth.
\u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

How Does the Story End?<\/h4>\n

The end of this tragic story is not who was brought to trial for the atrocities and what punishment was assigned, because most of those responsible escaped retribution. And there can really be no justice for such inhumanity.<\/p>\n

A mass grave in Oradour-sur-Glane
\u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

Robert H\u00e9bras, the only one of the survivors who is alive today, dedicates his memories to those throughout the world who have suffered intolerance, hatred, and violence at the hands of others. This, to me, seems the right path of cultural history.<\/p>\n

The real end of the story is how remembering such an atrocity can hopefully guide the future.<\/p>\n

The signs entering the ruins of Oradour-sur-Glane remind us to “Never forget.”<\/p>\n

Remember . . . always
\u00a9 Meredith Mullins<\/p><\/div>\n

For more information visit the Oradour Memorial site<\/a> or read the definitive books:\u00a0<\/em>The Tragedy Hour by Hour<\/a> by Robert H\u00e9bras, <\/em>Oradour sur Glane: A Vision of Horro<\/a>r by Guy Pauchou and Dr. Pierre Masfrand, and <\/em>Oradour, The Final Verdict,<\/a> by Douglas Hawes.<\/em><\/p>\n

Comment<\/a><\/i>\u00a0on this post below, or inspire insight with your own\u00a0OIC Moment\u00a0<\/em>here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":null,"protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":31282,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[99,200],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-heritage-culture","category-france-mappoints"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31225"}],"version-history":[{"count":56,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32529,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31225\/revisions\/32529"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oh-i-see.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}