The final stop of our week long bus trip was to the memorial site of Oradour-Sur-Glane, a village destroyed by Nazi massacre. June 1944, the small village was surrounded by Nazi troops, villagers were gathered in the center of town, and separated by gender and age to be executed. The town was then ransacked and demolished, and later another troop came in to ensure that none of the bodies could be identifiable. Over 640 people were killed that day without reason, a third of which were children. The town left in desolation, was unable to mourn properly as nothing remained to complete the grieving process. The ruins of the village were left relatively untouched as a memorial to the tragedy, and today in 2006 groups of university students can walk through the rain and hail to mourn with the French.
Friday, March 03, 2006
Souviens-Toi
The final stop of our week long bus trip was to the memorial site of Oradour-Sur-Glane, a village destroyed by Nazi massacre. June 1944, the small village was surrounded by Nazi troops, villagers were gathered in the center of town, and separated by gender and age to be executed. The town was then ransacked and demolished, and later another troop came in to ensure that none of the bodies could be identifiable. Over 640 people were killed that day without reason, a third of which were children. The town left in desolation, was unable to mourn properly as nothing remained to complete the grieving process. The ruins of the village were left relatively untouched as a memorial to the tragedy, and today in 2006 groups of university students can walk through the rain and hail to mourn with the French.