As the spectre of fascism haunts Europe again, MICHAL BONCZA recalls, on its 79th anniversary, one of the most heinous deeds perpetrated by its past adherents
It's horrifying to know what the people of Oradour-sur-Glane went through at the hands of the Nazis. 77 years after, the remnants of the town still remain untouched.
The mystery of the tiny French village exterminated by the Nazis
Oradour-sur-Glane was flattened by the Nazis in 1944; its inhabitants massacred. With help from survivors, a new book unravels the atrocity
The silent village: Oradour-sur-Glane
On the morning of June 10, 1944, the French village of Oradour-sur-Glane was – like the rest of France – hopeful. It was just days after the Allies had successfully stormed the beaches of Normandy – D-Day on June 6 – following four years under the Nazi occupation and collaborationist regime of Vichy France.
“Word had been coming in all week about the successful Allied landings that had taken place earlier that week,” writes Robert Pike in his new book, Silent Village. “Everybody knew that there was still a long way to go, but an end might finally be in sight.”