Orador-Sur-Glane: this is the town of France that 80 years ago was attacked by the Nazis and was left in ruins with no survivors

Near Limoges, the ruins of Oradour-sur-Glane remain as they were after the cruel and merciless advance of Hitler’s troops.

The horrors left by the Second World War, especially Nazism, have left traces not only on the people who lost their lives, but also on the survivors and their descendants. But it can also be seen inplaces that have been marked forever as a reminder of one of the worst deeds of humanity.

An example of this is the town of Oradour-sur-Glanelocated in Francewhere an attack by Nazi troops not only left only one survivor, Marguerite Rouffanche, who took refuge in the local Church; but they also destroyed all the structures and buildings, leaving the city completely in ruins.

80 years have passed since the Orador-Sur-Glane massacre: what happened

The Oradour-sur-Glane massacre occurred when troops from the 3rd Company of the 1st Battalion of the Der Führer Regiment, belonging to the SS Das Reich Division of the Waffen-SS of the Third Reich, attacked unarmed civilians in the French commune of Oradour-sur-Glane on June 10, 1944. This horrendous act of violence occurred during the Battle of Normandy in World War II.

The people, who now It is preserved as a national monument in Franceis a symbol of the war crimes committed during the Nazi occupation and the collaborationist Vichy regime in World War II. In 2019, victim number 643, Ramona Domínguez Gil, was identifiedthanks to the work of Professor David Ferrer Revull.

After the attack, Most of the town’s buildings and infrastructure were destroyed., leaving it in ruins. The few survivors took refuge in the Munch Abbeywhere the monks helped them escape down a drain in total darkness.

Although what happened has been reconstructed thanks to the testimonies of some surviving victims, the death or disappearance of the majority of the perpetrators has fueled several theories about the motivations behind the attack. However, regardless of the reasons, Oradour-sur-Glane became an example of the practices of terror and violence applied by the Nazis on the Western Front during World War II.

The ruins of the town were preserved by order of the French government as a reminder of the horrors of the Nazi occupation and as a symbol of the suffering caused by the war. This act of preservation seeks not only to remember the victims, but also to promote reconciliation and national unity.

Orador-Sur-Glane in photos: this is how the people of France are today attacked by the Nazis

In December 2023, the Argentine journalist and photographer José Sánchez was in the city and was able to portray how the ruins are today, 80 years after the massacre.

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