Today we visited the remains of the village of Oradour-sur-Glane. This village was surrounded and sealed off by German troups on June 10th, 1944, the inhabitants were slaughtered, homes were pillaged and destroyed. We entered through the museum which lands you near the middle of the old village.
I'll let the photos speak for themselves with an additional comment here and there.
Used to be the garage.
The doctor's car still stands near the entrance of the square where all the people were initially round-up.
The bakery.
Women and children (youngest child was 8 days old) were locked up in this church in which they were later suffocated with smoke and/or burned to death.
Some tried to escape but soldiers tried to shoot all who did. One women succesfully escaped through this window.
The molten church bell as a witness as to what happened.
The church.
Most remaining personal possesions have been removed but pottery, sewing machines, cars and bed frames are scattered all over the place. In some houses stones have been erected to remember the folks who lived there.
The tram stop.
It was a memorable visit.
English info here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oradour-sur-Glane_massacre.
Nederlandse versie:
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloedbad_van_Oradour-sur-Glane.
In the evening, after we put the games away and sat outside enjoying some peace and quiet, this huge mantis showed up. I had never seen one before!
No comments:
Post a Comment