Don't Miss This Oradour Sur Glane

[suavecarve]

This thread is for the general discussion of the item Oradour Sur Glane. Please add to the discussion here.

 

[Cavs]

This place is indeed very moving. We were stunned into silence when we visited - it is just unbelievable what was done here.

Well worth a visit, but enjoyable is not the right word.

 

[HugoBNB]

Very traumatic and very moving.

 

[Deltacharlie26]

We visited on a dull drab rainy day that was so fitting. Tragic story that is not fully explained but a visit is a must to pay respect to those who perished in those dark days. Very humbling and a credit to the Village for preserving as a monument of man's inhumanity to man. Visitor centre is a must, Aire parking overlooking sports field in the village within easy walking distance to the site.
Dennis

 

[David and Sally]

Moving. Every child should visit here as part of their education. Just to limit humanity’s desire to do it ever again.
Such a memorial to human cruelty.

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[Podney]

Unforgettable.

 

[RetiredPope]

A must for everyone, will change your opinion of the French in ww2.
Nice restaurant/cafe halfway between aire and visitor centre for evening meal.

 

[chaser]

Been a couple of times, and agree with all the sentiments, but what always amazes me is if you go into the museum and listen to the commentary on the translated earphones, whatever do the Germans think when they listen, as it's not very complementary to them to say the least, if theirs is the same as the English.

 

[Littlewheels]

Just a heads up to anyone thinking of visiting that have Dogs,they do not allow them in we didn’t enter through the Visitor Centre but through another entrance further around to the left as you approach from the Town, luckily for us we did get to have the experience before being turfed out.

 

[Geo]

Good place for Singer sewing machine spare parts, You'll have to have visited to understand

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[David and Sally]

Been a couple of times, and agree with all the sentiments, but what always amazes me is if you go into the museum and listen to the commentary on the translated earphones, whatever do the Germans think when they listen, as it's not very complementary to them to say the least, if theirs is the same as the English.

And should it be? They murdered hundreds. How do you explain that in a cemplementary manner?
We went to Saxenhausen with a German friend who lived in Berlin. Despite being in her 50s and living no more than 10 miles away she really did not understand what her nation did. After an hour or two she cried. And I mean cried in the understanding she now had.
You can’t sanitize the German nation from their history. And, I love Germany and have German friends so axe to grind.

 

[chaser]

Just a heads up to anyone thinking of visiting that have Dogs,they do not allow them in we didn’t enter through the Visitor Centre but through another entrance further around to the left as you approach from the Town, luckily for us we did get to have the experience before being turfed out.

Why on earth did you take dogs in if you knew they were not allowed?

 

[David and Sally]

Good place for Singer sewing machine spare parts, You'll have to have visited to understand

Been three times. Please explain , do you mean the sewing machines left in the houses?

 

[suavecarve]

NB This thread is attached to a map that members can use to assist them in making holiday plans

 

[irnbru]

Yes its a very moving place and very walkable from the aire.

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[chaser]

Been three times. Please explain do you mean the sewing machines left in the houses?

Every house has one.

 

[Larby]

Been three times. Please explain do you mean the sewing machines left in the houses?

It took us 2 weeks to stop thinking how those poor souls felt knowing what was to come.

 

[chaser]

What always gets me is the modern way it looks, must have been quite a town at the time, even trams from one end to the other.

 

[Newt]

The cemetery got to me, the same date on every head stone.

 

[Larby]

The cemetery got to me, the same date on every head stone.

And the various remains in the glass coffin .......,,,,,,,

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[David and Sally]

The cemetery got to me, the same date on every head stone.

The church got me. Horrific.

 

[Imala615]

One from the cemetry.

 

[Geo]

Been three times. Please explain , do you mean the sewing machines left in the houses?

Yes almost every house and shop had one in the rubble

 

[Charente16]

Moving to the Point of Tears; I was unable to finish our visit and had to leave. I have never visited a 'Death Camp' and know I would be unable to so, too many of my Great Grandmother's extended family perished in the camps;

My father's cousin Felix Nussbaum painted many pictures of life in an Internment Camp in France, in hiding in Belgium with his family before being betrayed to the Nazi's; they died in Auschwitz.

Robert

 

[Mike Kiff]

So so sad, rest in peace.
Mike

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[Jo662]

We have been,and as others have said it is a very moving experience and well worth visiting.
A prime example how barbaric mankind can be!

 

[sedge]

The church was interesting to me. I was really surprised by it - since to me - it did not give me the slightest feeling of being in a church. I have walked through the remains of Coventry Cathedral goodness knows how many times and cannot possibly leave before acknowledging the cross of nails in silence and respect - I ALWAYS without fail know I am inside a church. The same feeling that any church I have ever been in , anywhere, normally gives me. Talking to Pete afterwards he just said simply - it is because ALL the souls, every single one, even in the cemetery - abandoned it, there was nothing left for them or anyone else - so it is correct, what has been done with it. (ie Nothing)

 

[uzsnowdrop]

Good place for Singer sewing machine spare parts, You'll have to have visited to understand

I know, we saw the motorway sign, I did a quick google and we said let’s have a look’
, it remains the most memorable part of any trip we have made in the moho. Its a day frozen in time.
The doctors car sticks in my brain as does the molten bell in the church. Makes you think about love, hate, racism, unity.
This is a must do on any journey through France, and difficult to describe to others.
As for Singer, isnt it incredible, years before kevlar ...

 

[uzsnowdrop]

Yes its a very moving place and very walkable from the aire.View attachment 477205View attachment 477206View attachment 477207

Just seeing Irnbrus photos has brought it back, don’t miss the experience, if thats the right word...

 

[SpeedyDux]

Been there. Incredible to think that for the dehumanised SS soldiers it was all in a day's work, and they had massacred and destroyed whole villages many times before in places like Russia or Poland.

What got to me was that, because many of the perpetrators were from Alsace, a region that the French wanted to re-integrate after previous German occupation, they received very short prison sentences after the War. Those lenient sentences didn't reflect the severity of this appalling war crime. Justice for the victims was compromised, for the sake of political expediency. It didn't seem fair.

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