Friday, August 14, Nanasse (to whom I discover the region), Nico (The Russian) and I take the car in the rain to go in the Haute-Vienne. We start right after eaten towards Limoges and the purpose of our story of the day: Oradour-sur-Glanes.

Oradour-sur-Glanes, a village become Martyr June 10, 1944, is located in the Limousin, not far from Limoges. That is, before his tragic end, an active town and ordinary. Agriculture occupies an important place in the life of the town until 1944 when there will be only two farms (due to the crisis in the agricultural sector). Approving at the beginning of the war, granting full powers to Philippe Pétain, the general view of the village is gradually changing and done, after some time, switch the complete opposite. Creating a small industry rescue and passage of Allied pilots shot down, but not strictly speaking maquis.
After 1h30 drive, we arrive at Oradour in the rain that accompanied us throughout the journey.
You should know qu'Oradour was kept as is (or at least to the maximum as is) after the massacre. The new village of Oradour was built next door and the Centre of Memory serves as a link between the two cities. Moreover, it is here that begins the visit.

The part in the Centre of Memory tells us the rise of Nazism, the ''naive'' of the interwar period, the coming to power of Hitler. Then the declaration of war, the invasion of Poland and the Blitzkrieg (Lightning War's). The transfer of power in the hands of Petain, the armistice, the Appeal of June 18, the resistance, the invasion of the Free Zone. Another room tells us what life was like under occupation: rationing, the deportations, the collaborations, resistant and civilians.
A little further, in a corridor, we are told a little about the history of the Waffen-SS and the extermination camps.
The Genocide that was caused the Nazis to extermination camps was implemented in 1941 and confirmed on 20 January 1942 Wannsee (Berlin).
There were five extermination camps: Chelmno, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka and Auschwitz II - Birkenau. The Nazis exterminated millions of people in several ways:
- Operation T4 (the insane and the disabled): more than 70,000 dead.
- Ghettos: 800,000 dead.
- Open Shootings: 1,300,000 dead.
- The concentration camps and work: 300,000 deaths (of exhaustion, disease and abuse mainly).
- The gas chambers: 2,700,000 dead.
Total: about 5'170'000 dead. Besides deaths from the experiences of doctors of death or various exterminations that took place all over Europe (Lidice, Rome, Ascq, children Izieu, Frayssinet-le-Gelat, Tulle, Marsoulas, Oradour, the Vercors and many others, whether in Russia, France or elsewhere).
In this same corridor is presented to us as the Waffen SS and especially the 2nd SS Panzer of. You should know that there were 38 divisions of SS which was about 1,200,000 men, all fanatical and dedicated to the Reich and particularly his representative Hitler.
The 2nd SS Division 'Das Reich' division created in 1939 took part in the invasion of Poland. In 1941 she participated in Marita and Strafgericht operations (Punishment), fighting in Belgrade. In 1941 still, she participated in Operation Barbarossa and in the Battle of Moscow. In 1942, she participated in the Lila operation to seize the French fleet based in Toulon. The latter is scuttled and 102 buildings are sunk by the Germans. They pouront recover only 39 buildings in small tonnages and no great military value, because of their deliberate disposal (inadequate), damaged or simply disarmed. For the year 1943, the Das Reich division involved in the attack against Kharkov - Belgorod, the Battle of Kursk and the Zitadelle operation and the Battle of Prokhorovka.
In early 1944, the division was sent to Montauban to recover. it will reverse to Normandy after the Allied landings June 6, 1944, killing in reprisal operations.
These begin reprisals from Montauban, May 2 during maneuvers of the division to Montpezat-de-Quercy. There was looting and burning of a part of the village, 5 dead and 15 deported. Next door to Belfort-du-Quercy, there were 6 prisoners including 4 deaths in the camps. On 11 and 12 May, the division back in the Figeac area where they looted, burned several villages. He torture, kill and deport over 1,000 people only on these two days (including about 800 in the region near Figeac). On May 21, the Das Reich encircles Lacapelle-Biron, forced the mayor to give the list of residents. The SS seemed to look for weapons caches, resistant and Jews. They found nothing but deported all men 18-60 years old (118 people in all) in the concentration camps of Dachau and Mauthausen. Other raids and bloody episodes take place the same day in Montagnac-sur-Lède, Dévillac, Frayssinet-le-Gélat, Vergt-de-Biron, Venues, Fumel and Monsempron-Libos. On June 1, 9 civilians were shot to Frontenac. On June 3, it is 19 inhabitants to Viazac. The division assists the Gestapo Agen June 7, to fight against the resistance of the Corps Franc Pommiès.
On June 8, the division received orders to go back to Normandy. The SS shot down a man of 83 years (the stepfather of the innkeeper Issendolus) while it sought potholes along a wall. Then they take the road to the hamlet of Gabaudet when many volunteers got together at the announcement of the landing to help the resistance. The SS massacred 44 people and there are 70 deported.

That same June 8, Marshal von Rundstedt (commander of the German forces on the western edge) orders the Das Reich to reach, as quickly as possible, Normandy to fight the Allies. But receives first mission is to help in the fight against terrorism along their comeback to Normandy. Thus on June 8 the recognition of the Das Reich Division elements (the regiment Der Führer) set off to Brive-la-Gaillarde. They are hung by resistant Groléjac, Rouffillac, Bretenoux and Cressensac. They lost 15 men while resistant to lose more than 100. June 9, while trying to free FTP resistant Tulle, Der Führer regiment involved, ordering 120 hanged for killing nine German soldiers. In the end, they will hang in 99 (thanks to the intervention of Father Lespinasse Henry Vogel (director of Brandt plants), Laborie (Deputy Director of the Arms Factory of Tulle) and Lajugie (Chief Engineer Roads and Bridges)). The SS organize hangings in groups of 10, using trees, lampposts and balconies as gallows. They also deport 149 inhabitants in Dachau. Meanwhile, a company of the regiment Der Führer went to Argenton-sur-Creuse, where she killing sixty-seven civilians and resistant. A detachment from Limoges, led by Helmut Kämpfe to help resume Gueret released by the maquis. Nearly Janaillat they ambush in Combeauvert, killing guerrillas back from Gueret. In return, near Sauviat, Guingouin's guerrillas of Colonel Helmut Kämpfe capture. It will be shot a few days later in retaliation massacres of Combeauvert and Oradour-sur-Glane.
June 10 morning, the Der Führer regiment sets out to Oradour-sur-Glanes. The Germans want to be an example to leave a feeling of terror in the region and made use of the capture of Major Helmut Kämpfe by the guerrillas as an excuse to destroy Oradour. Around 13:30 in Saint-Junien, Sturmbannführer Adolf Diekmann became head of an armored column and trucks to Oradour, accompanied by the command section and a section of heavy machine guns. A total of approximately 200 men equipped with light and heavy weapons.
The information boards stop here and we have to wait a while before two closed doors we can get because a small 10 minute film is projected. A short film that tells the day of June 10, 1944 in Oradour-sur-Glanes. After a few minutes we can enter and take our places on the benches in the small screening room. And the film starts ... The pictures are mostly in black and white, vintage... and a voice tells the horror...
At 1:45 p.m., a first group of 5 to 8 vehicles cross Oradour while the rest of the troops (120 men) begins to circle the village. After the end of the main street, truck stop and SS come out, ending circle the village. During the siege, many people tried to flee but few succeed and became either captured by the SS became either killed on the spot. Once completed the village, the commander Adolf Diekmann Desourteaux convenes the Doctor, which acts as mayor, so he gathers all the people on the fairgrounds.
Convinced that this is just the control of identities and since there is no resistance network in the village, the majority of the population thus makes relatively confident fairgrounds. So much so that the baker, who had just put bread baking, asking if he could go watch the cooking, found himself answering in French, ''we will do that''. Meanwhile, the German encircling the village are close to the center, folding all those they encounter to the fairgrounds. The SS enter homes and search everywhere for those who are not already collect. The fugitives and those who can not move quickly enough (or move for short) are shot on the spot by the SS. Mrs Binet, the director of the girls' school on sick leave, is pushed out of her with rifle butts. She joined the pajamas fairgrounds, hardly a coat thrown over her shoulders.
Around 14:45 the rally is finished and the SS asking where the weapons are hidden. No one puts forward, but for the simple reason that there is no cache of weapons here. Not accepting that no one refers to the Diekmann commander then ordered the mayor to appoint 30 hostages ... Unable to satisfy this exigency, he proposes however to stand hostage himself and his family. Diekmann what the commander replied with a laugh and called out to add many loads.
For an hour the inhabitants will remain under supervision fairgrounds. Then the SS who finished their excavations in search of arms of the village came to separate men from women and children. The separations are in tears and cries. While the SS take 180 men from the village far from the fairgrounds, the tramway from Limoges arrives at the entrance of Oradour. Soldiers guard the three men are down the tram. The SS shot down a trace and the other two on the tram, and then ordered to return to their Limoges.
The 180 men are separated into 6 groups of about 30 people and brought in several places of the villages (Beaulieu forging, Desourteaux garage, cellar Denis (wine warehouse and strong alcohol), the Bouchoules barns, and Laudy Milord). The Germans are there enter a group by location and deploy a machine gun in front of each entrance. At 16h the SS opened fire and empty their weapons in six places. Men fall over each other, riddled with bullets. Then the SS pass among the dead and wounded, completing most of them go and look for bundles of firewood. 5 men while trying to flee the Laudy barn and succeed there, then they hide as they can while German return fire to the barn. The same carnage occurred in 5 other places where men were packed... But none survived this time.
Meanwhile, women and children are taken to the church where the SS guard them. Towards 17h the latter return into the church with a case where they deposit exceeds a cord in the center and light before exiting by closing the heavy church doors. The box contained grenades asphyxiating. The force of the explosion blew out the windows and the air could rush while women and children were coughing from the smoke. A woman tries to exit through the windows, quickly followed by another woman and her baby. Unfortunately the baby began to cry and rushed Germans opened fire on these people in the process of trying to escape the carnage. Mother and baby died while the third woman, wounded, hid between rows of peas rectory. Seeing the smoke escaped through the windows, the SS went back into the church and emptied their weapons at the crowd choking. They passed again between the body to finish off the wounded and went to seek incendiary grenades they threw in church environments to destroy and hide hundreds of bodies under the rubble and flames, the bodies are not identifiable. It is at this point that the roof of the church collapsed, the whole building destroyed by fire. Today, we can still see the bullet holes in the walls, the altarpiece and the dead plaque commemorating the First World War.


While the church is on fire, the SS returned to places where men were massacred in order to set it on fire. It is at once incendiary grenades and flamethrower they burned barns, cellar, blacksmith and garage. From that moment the SS troop into all buildings, looting valuables and interesting then destroying everything using grenades, flamethrower often come into action. Several adults and children were tempted to escape the raid by hiding in buildings. They were mercilessly slaughtered by the SS when they fell over. Or eventually burned alive because of fires. Seeing to return their children from school and heard the shooting, several nearby residents get worried and came to Oradour where they were massacred, ''Oradour is an abyss which there is no return''. By late afternoon, almost the entire village is no longer a huge blaze. Some buildings have been kept intact to accommodate the Germans during the night. Around 19:30, the regular tram Limoges arrives with its passengers, many of Oradour. The background and the Germans down separate men from women and children. While those who were not of Oradour see if ordered to go back in the tram and leave. A soldier then launches their ''You can say you're in luck because we have them all massacred !''. Part of the troop SS restarts while the other still keep Oradour during the night, prohibiting anyone from entering. They set their heart on the house Dupic, the wine merchant. They drank excessive and have found hundreds of empty bottles of old wine and champagne. They continued to shoot at night settings and burn what could still be.
On 11 and 12 of June, the SS came to Oradour to cover their tracks. A cordon of sentries firing at civilians while approaching the village still smoking while the rest of the gang try to make them unrecognizable bodies of all the victims. The fire has already made havoc, but the SS throw the bodies in mass graves, into the well, they dug graves in various speed.
From June 11, residents of the area enter the village in ruins, not a single building is intact and there are only three burned bodies visible. Only the next day, June 12, after the parties SS that nearby residents arrive in what remains of the village of Oradour. Gradually they not end up discovering the body: in the barns, the storehouse, the church. Soon, they continue to experience the horror of Nazi barbarism: the mass graves, mass graves, and even the well a young child in the bread oven.
There were ultimately 45 people who escaped the massacre: 5 men fled the Laudy barn just after the shooting, a woman successful in escaping from the church, others have managed to s 'flee just before the encirclement of the village. In all thirty people were able to escape, are added the second 15 tram Limoges who were not murdered.
642. This is the number of victims this June 10, 1944 in Oradour. 180 men, 462 women and children under 14 years. There are only ruins of the village and the new village built next door is a village without joy. An entire generation has disappeared from the area that day: all the local children have died (some even nicknamed these hamlets' villages without children '').
Until the 1960s, the inhabitants of Oradour observe a permanent mourning (women are always in black, there are more festivals or fetes, we are more famous weddings, communions or christening, Oradour died 10 June 1944).
It was not until 1988 that grief is reduced somewhat due to time and the arrival of new residents, and that a first building (pharmacy) to be repainted in vivid color a little dull in places of paint dark, serving mourning veil to buildings of the new village of Oradour. And in 1991, a life less normal returns in the lives of the inhabitants of Oradour with the planting of trees along the street on 10 June that connects the old town to the new.

The video ends and we continue the visit of the Memory Center with objects recovered from the ruins and then we are in front of the corridor that crosses under the road which leads us to the ruins of the village martyr. The rain accompanied us always makes a sad and somewhat gloomy atmosphere to the village. The entrance gate with the stone plate ''Remember''.

We begin to discover the ruins and kennels we find on our right, and a well that served as grave. There is also a small brick building where an old balance is.


The street then leads us to the main street with the tram rails from the old crossing Oradour.

Next the tram, we arrive at the place of the fairgrounds. A car wreck has been left on the side (the Peugeot 202 of the doctor).

We finish around the fairgrounds and go to the Laudy barn, where five men were able to escape. (Opposite, several car wrecks rusting in the rain.)

We continue descending to the church, we go to the fabric store and a small coffee hairdresser.

Between coffee and the church lies the Liberty Tree.

We discover the church with its vault collapsed, the altarpiece punched machine guns impacts, as well as the walls and the stele of the dead during the First World War. The bronze bell, fused part by the heat of the fire has been out of the rubble and now remains in the church entrance.

Upon leaving, we take a look down the village and time to remind us it will soon have to resume the way back. We go up the main street along the tram rails.

Shortly before returning to the entrance of the fairgrounds, we pass by the butcher with the rest of the bottom of the tiles. Then, further, the bakery.

We pass next to the forge of Beaulieu wall where men were shot. Bullet holes are visible on the wall.

Continuing along the street towards the exit, we passed the remains of a building with metal parts of an old pram.

We leave the village by the Centre of Memory, where we arrived. Almost all of the report took place in silence. We were overwhelmed by the horror as present in these places. The rain has probably not much lightened the day, but it fits well with the atmosphere of the place. A place of contemplation and of which he must not forget the barbaric acts so that it does not happen again.
The return will be done again in silence, Nanasse, Nico and I marked by what we have seen today, what we have experienced. A small part of what we have suffered the inhabitants of this village martyr.