Oradour sur Glane

This is my picture for the day that we spent at the site of Oradour sur Glane where the village was massacred in 1944 by the German Waffen SS company. I have used this picture rather than one of the more graphic ruins because I felt that looking through to the sky represented hope, hope for the human race, that we might learn from the tragic events at this site.

The site remains exactly as it was immediately after the massacre. You can read an account of it by TT here; and see more images of the village here.

There was a very informative visitor centre which included fascinating information about research which has been done into how quickly ‘bad culture’ can develop within a group of human beings – it really brought home how important it is that the lessons are learnt and remembered from horrific events such as these.

It was a sobering day, spent in respectful peace and quiet: walking round the site you learn more and more of what happened and the horror of it grows. I left the ruined Oradour feeling that a lifetime would not be long enough to process much of what I learnt in this important place of reflection and understanding.