Oradour-sur-Glane (; oc, Orador de Glana) was a
commune
A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to:
Administrative-territorial entities
* Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township
** Communes of ...
in the
Haute-Vienne
Haute-Vienne (; oc, Nauta Vinhana, ; English: Upper Vienne) is a department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in southwest-central France. Named after the Vienne River, it is one of the twelve departments that together constitute Nouvelle-Aquitai ...
department,
New Aquitaine, west central France, as well as the name of the main village within the commune.
History
The original village was destroyed on 10 June 1944, four days after
D-Day
The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...
, when 643 of its inhabitants, including women and children, were massacred by a company of troops belonging to the
2nd SS Panzer Division ''Das Reich'', a
Waffen-SS
The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...
unit of the military forces of
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. A new village was built after the war on a nearby site, but on the orders of president
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Governm ...
, the original has been maintained as a permanent memorial. The
Centre de la mémoire d'Oradour museum is located beside the historic site.
Personalities linked to the commune
*
Robert Hébras, born on 29 June 1925 in Oradour-sur-Glane; one of the six survivors of the Oradour-sur-Glane massacre on 10 June 1944.
*
Jean-Claude Peyronnet
Jean-Claude Peyronnet (born 7 November 1940) is a member of the Senate of France, representing the Haute-Vienne department. He is a member of the Socialist Party
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. ...
, (1940–), French politician, creator of the Centre of the Memory of Oradour-sur-Glane.
*
Sébastien Puygrenier
Sébastien Nicolas Puygrenier (born 28 January 1982) is a French retired professional footballer who played as a centre-back.
Club career
France
Born in Limoges, Puygrenier began his career at Stade Rennais, Puygrenier made his Ligue 1 debut in ...
began his football career at US Oradour-sur-Glane where his father and his uncles played.
*
Didier Barbelivien, French singer-songwriter, pays tribute to Oradour in his song "Les amants d'Oradour".
Geography
The municipality borders with
Javerdat,
Cieux,
Peyrilhac,
Veyrac,
Saint-Victurnien and
Saint-Brice-sur-Vienne.
Demographics
Gallery
File:Oradour-sur-Glane map-fr.svg, Map showing modern and former village
File:Car in Oradour-sur-Glane4.jpg, Ruined village
File:Village martyr d'Oradour-sur-Glane 10.jpg,
See also
*
Quneitra
Quneitra (also Al Qunaytirah, Qunaitira, or Kuneitra; ar, ٱلْقُنَيْطِرَة or ٱلْقُنَيطْرَة, ''al-Qunayṭrah'' or ''al-Qunayṭirah'' ) is the largely destroyed and abandoned capital of the Quneitra Governorate in sout ...
, Syrian city destroyed by Israeli forces and left as an open-air museum
*
Lidice
Lidice (, german: Liditz) is a municipality and village in Kladno District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 600 inhabitants.
Lidice is built near the site of the previous village of the same name, which was co ...
, Czech village destroyed by Nazi forces in 1942
References
Bibliography
*Farmer, Sarah. ''Martyred Village: Commemorating the 1944 Massacre at Oradour-sur-Glane.'' University of California Press, 2000.
*Fouché, Jean-Jacques. ''Massacre At Oradour: France, 1944; Coming To Grips With Terror'', Northern Illinois University Press, 2004.
*Penaud, Guy. ''La "Das Reich" 2e SS Panzer Division'' (Parcours de la division en France, 560 pp), Éditions de La Lauze/Périgueux.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oradour-sur-Glane
Communes of Haute-Vienne
Oradour-sur-Glane massacre
Razed cities