Oradour-sur-Glane, Memorial village in Haute-Vienne, France
Oradour-sur-Glane is a commune in the Haute-Vienne department of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, consisting of the new village and the preserved ruins of the old village centre. The burned buildings, rusted vehicle wrecks and shattered windowpanes remain untouched, while overgrown streets lead to empty houses, the church and the old school.
German Waffen-SS troops destroyed the village completely on June 10, 1944, killing 642 inhabitants including almost all women and children of the commune. The French government decided after the war to leave the ruins as a national memorial and build a new village nearby.
The commune's name comes from the Latin words meaning 'golden bank', though visitors now walk through silent streets lined with roofless stone walls and charred beams. Many French schoolchildren visit as part of their history education, tracing the path through the village centre where ordinary life stopped in a single afternoon.
The memorial site lies roughly 22 kilometers (14 miles) northwest of Limoges and is accessible via a signposted route that helps visitors orient themselves. The grounds span several streets and squares, so visitors should plan enough time to walk through all areas at a comfortable pace.
A tram car that stood on the tracks in 1944 still rusts in the same spot today, surrounded by charred telegraph poles and bent metal signs. The church bell that fell from the tower still lies among the rubble on the ground.
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