Oradour sur Glane, A Massacre in a small French town

June 10, 1944.  It was a day marked with tragedy and horror for the people of Oradour sur Glane.  It was a time of war, and yet, for the people of this village the day began as normal as any other day.  Early afternoon arrived and lives were changed forever.

We have all heard of the horrors committed by those under Hitler’s regime against so many innocent people, primarily through concentration camps.  The atrocity of this is seen through any visit to a concentration camp or Holocaust museum.  The story that unfolds in the village of Oradour sur Glane is another example of senseless crimes carried out by the S.S. 

What does a normal day for you look like?  I imagine for the most part, it’s not much different from the days of the people who lived in the small French town.  Children were at school, a few had gathered at the local café for lunch, perhaps mothers were mending torn and tattered clothing, fathers taking cars to the mechanic, or maybe the day was filled with doctor appointments.  In the distance was the rumble of a convoy filled with approximately 200 soldiers from a large S.S. detachment.  Upon arrival, there was an order for all inhabitants- women, children, and men, to gather in the town square with papers for an identity check.  After everyone had been gathered, the women and children were taken to the church and the men were distributed among seven different barns.  The people were told that there were accounts of “secret arms and munitions deposits here made by terrorists.  We shall make searches.  During this time, to facilitate our operations we shall put you in the barns.”  

The men were locked in the barns and after a few moments, the soldiers opened fire and shot through the barn doors and walls.  Afterwards they walked among the men and shot at point blank range anyone who was only injured or still moving and finally found anything that would burn, piled it on top of the men, and set the barns on fire.  There are eye witness accounts from 5 men who managed to escape.  

The women and children were taken to the church where the soldiers placed an explosive box and set it on fire.  After the explosion, rounds of gunfire were shot into the church, followed by fire set to the building.  There was one survivor who in that single day lost her husband, son, two daughters, and her grandson.  I can’t even imagine it.

The sick and elderly were killed in their homes and then the town was pillaged and eventually set on fire.  

Today, the entire village of Oradour sur Glane is preserved just as it had been left by the Germans. 

Visiting the places where such violence and loss of innocent life is never easy.  This isn't Disneyland Paris or the breathtaking coast of Italy, this is a place of tragedy and a place that reminds us what evil can be capable of.  It is necessary to face the history of times like this so we can do better and teach our children to do better.  

 

I learned a vast amount of information regarding this massacre in the book Oradour sur Glane, A Vision of Horror, written by Guy Pauchou and Pierre Masfrand.  It is a detailed account of the events by testimonies collected in the days following the tragedy.  In a short blog post, I am unable to properly shed light on all of the atrocities committed in this small town and I encourage you to research it on your own.

Day 2 in Normandy

After determining that Juliette was feeling better we continued our driving tour.  We arrived at Pointe du Hoc, a prominent cliff overlooking the English Channel.  During World War II, it was the highest point between Utah Beach and Omaha Beach and the Germans had fortified the area.  On D-Day, American Army Rangers scaled the cliffs and assaulted the area.

Large pits covered the ground from bombs that were dropped in April 1944

 

 We had a small picnic lunch then set off for Omaha Beach.  What do you eat for a picnic lunch?  A variety of cheeses, bread, and fruit... yummy!

 

 It was striking how wide the space was from the water to the cliffs.  I wonder what kind of thoughts ran through the soldier's minds when they saw how far they would have to go.  Such bravery was shown and as Greg put it "A lot of American treasure was lost here that day."

 

Appropriately, the final stop on our tour was the cemetery.  It was an honor to visit the final resting place for many of the soldiers.  Brady was asking if the families of these men came to visit.  At moments like that it becomes very real how blessed we are to visit these places that many dream of visiting.  We do our best to explain the importance of what we were seeing and although our children are young, I pray that experiences like this will remain in their minds.

 Greg explaining what Brady was looking at

They aren't just crosses... 

Our final adventure for the day was to visit Mont Saint Michel.  You can read the history here.  This was one of the times I was very sad my good camera was broken because taking a picture from a distance was very poor quality.

 

This one is a little better!

 

We wandered up the main street and on recommendation from a shop owner, found a restaurant for dinner.  As we were waiting for them to open, another American family showed up!  They were on vacation and were stationed in Germany.  They had a daughter Brady's age and it was fun watching them play!  The restaurant opened and we were surprised to find that the "bar" area wasn't the restaurant.  Instead, it was a white table clothed fancy kind of place in the upstairs area.  We generally try to avoid these fancy kind of places because we do our best to not ruin quiet dinner's.  However, this time we decided to stay and the solution was Greg took the kids for a walk while we waited for our meal to arrive.  Towards the end of dinner, Juliette began to not feel good again, so we headed back to the cabin in an attempt to re-coup before we started the trek home.

On to Normandy!

On the road again!  From Paris we made our way to Normandy and ended up in Sainte Mere Eglise around lunchtime.  After eating a wonderful lunch (the kids had pizza... go figure), we ventured into the local museum.

One of the stained glass windows in the church

Paying for a tour of Normandy is very expensive, so Greg bought an audio tour and we set off on a driving adventure through French country roads.  

 

The first major stop was Utah Beach...

And of course, ice cream!

 

As we continued on, we happened upon a cemetery in the middle of nowhere, yet it was beautifully maintained. 

Having been on the road all day, it was time to find the campground where we would be staying.  What an amazing campground it was!  There were some lots with tent or RV campers, but most of it was full of wonderful little trailers.  Ours was a 2 bedroom situation with a great kitchen with an eating area, complete with a front porch and picnic table.  The campground had both an indoor and outdoor pool (which was nice because it was too cold to swim outside), giant bouncy houses, large playground, an activity center with a restaurant, and even a laundry room (Woot!!).

After grilling out some dinner and getting settled in for the night, Juliette woke up screaming that she was cold and ended up getting sick.  Her rash had been clearing up and this was out of the blue.  It certainly left me unsettled and I just prayed that we wouldn't have to find a hospital!  She finally fell back to sleep and it seemed everything was going to be o.k.!

Paris, Day 2!

Following the wonderful time at Disney, we re-grouped, waited for the morning of rain to clear up, then set out to tour the city.  I was a couple months pregnant and unlike my first 2 pregnancies, this one brought along some morning sickness.  I felt terrible, but after some lunch, I was able to get up by my bootstraps and continue on.  That's what big girls do, right?!  

The first stop was the Arc de Triomphe.  Brady was excited to be there...

 

We found a bicycle rickshaw to take us to the Eiffel Tower.  Brady got a big kick out of this because he asked the guy to take us then said "Haha!  That guy listens to little kids!  He lets little kids tell him what to do!"  That was perhaps the highlight of his day!

Once again, Brady is thrilled.  I could post every picture and Brady would look the same, so I just find one where the rest of us look good!  In his defense, I think we had just told him we weren't going to the top of the tower and he was disappointed.

Apparently this was a day for a variety of transportation.  We took a train, a bicycle, and then onto a boat tour

and we saw...

 

 Notre Dame Cathedral

And then Greg and I professed our undying love by writing our initials on a lock and throwing the key into the water below

Look at all those locks!  There must be so many happy couples in this world!

After getting caught in a torrential rain storm, we stopped at a cafe while our master navigator found the fasted route to our train and the kids ate giant bowls of chocolate pudding

Because of the rainy morning, we had a very short amount of time and missed many sights.  I got the feeling that Paris is most appreciated when time is spent walking the streets and absorbing the culture as opposed to just seeing the famous museums and cathedrals.

 

We returned to the campground and it turns out that our kids didn't need the grand city of Paris.  All it took was a giant rain puddle to make this a good day (and it made us happy to see them enjoying it!).