Oradour-sur-Glane (French pronunciation: [ɔʁaduʁ syʁ ɡlan]; Occitan: Orador de Glana) is a commune in the Haute-Vienne department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, west central France, as well as the name of the main village within the commune. It had a population of 2,477 as of 2019.
The original village of Oradour-sur-Glane was destroyed and its inhabitants massacred by German soldiers during World War II. It was subsequently left in its destroyed state as a memorial.
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History
The original village was destroyed on 10 June 1944, four days after D-Day, when 642 of its inhabitants, including 207 children, were massacred by a company of troops belonging to the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich, a Waffen-SS unit of the military forces of Nazi Germany. There were only 10 survivors, who escaped by pretending to be dead. SS Sturmbannführer Adolf Diekmann, the commanding officer of the Der Führer regiment of the Das Reich division, had wanted to destroy another French town, Oradour-sur-Vayres, whose people were said to be providing food and shelter to the Maquis, but had taken a wrong turn on the road, which led him and his men to Oradour-sur-Glane, whose people had never supported the Maquis.
A new village was built after the war on a nearby site, but on the orders of President Charles de Gaulle, the original has been maintained as a permanent memorial. The Center de la mémoire d'Oradour museum is situated adjacent to the historic site.
The massacre at Oradour-sur-Glane bookends the documentary series The World at War, the first and final episodes showing images of the ruined village.
Personalities linked to the commune
Robert Hébras (29 June 1925 – 11 February 2023) was one of the six survivors of the Oradour-sur-Glane massacre on 10 June 1944.
Jean-Claude Peyronnet (born 1940), French politician and creator of the Centre of the Memory of Oradour-sur-Glane.
Sébastien Puygrenier (born 1982) began his football career at US Oradour-sur-Glane, where his father and his uncles had played.
Didier Barbelivien (born 1954), a French singer-songwriter, paid tribute to Oradour in his song "Les amants d'Oradour".
Geography
The municipality borders Javerdat, Cieux, Peyrilhac, Veyrac, Saint-Victurnien and Saint-Brice-sur-Vienne.