May 29 - Oradour-sur-Glane
Today, we sadly left Tours and our cosy hotel to make the long (300km+) trek to Perigueux. Our plan was to stop through certain cities on the way - Saumur, where we had reserved tickets to watch the Cadre Noir, which is part of the Ecole Nationale d'Equitation. Not really sure what to say about the Cadre Noir - it's a group of black capped, uniformed "elite" (read: shi-shi) riders and trainers, although what they can make the horses do is pretty spectacular. Per Lonely Planet, "These acrobatic feats, far from being crude or cruel, are considered the height of grace, elegance and Classicism". Judge for yourself (pictures taken from website www.cadrenoir.fr since we weren't allowed to take photos during the show):
We didn't enjoy it much since poor Min had her worst allergy attack ever there - must have been something in the horse hay, we didn't know what - but we couldn't wait to get out of there. While it was kind of interesting, and the horse displays were impressive (when they actually did the tricks), it really wasn't worth the drive or the money.
After Saumur we stopped in Poitiers for lunch. There wasn't much there, it was really just a pit stop on our way to Perigueux. What I found was that pretty much every city in France, no matter how small, has something to see - usually at least 1 cathedrale and 1 eglise, and some other interesting historical sites or beautiful buildings besides. After a while though I feel like I'm seeing nothing but churches and old buildings and seeing them in one city is pretty much the same as in another. Horrible to say (I can see now how the French get so complacent about their own country) but sadly true.
Anyway, point being Poitiers was cute but nothing special and we trucked on towards our second goal, Oradour-sur-Glane. We ended up driving on some pretty small roads for this and as a result we ran into a sign pointing at "Monoliths". Sounded like something of historical importance (we looked it up in our trusty Lonely Planet and discovered that monoliths are like the stones used in Stonehenge), and Min reasoned, why else did we get a rental car if not to make pitstops and discoveries along the way to our destinations? So we parked the car at the designated spot and embarked on a trek through insects and wild grass, truly not knowing where we were going or how far we had to trek but fueled only by (Minora's) excitement. Mission accomplished: we found a big rock.
Although it was weird to think that someone at some point had dragged this huge slab out in the middle of nowhere - it was completely far away from even the smallest village - for some unknown reason. Or was it just deposited there by nature - or by aliens? And this wasn't the only monolith, there were more scattered across the countryside that we didn't visit (thank goodness). The mystery continues....
After the monolith - onwards towards Oradour. I now have to spend some time describing this because it was a very poignant moment in our trip for both Min and me. France has been delivered first-hand blows in both world wars and there are reminders and remnants all over the country, one of which is Oradour-sur-Glane. (The village is Oradour, and the "sur-Glane" part refers to the fact that it is situated on the river Glane.) We may never have set out to find this place if we hadn't both separately been reading Lonely Planet and come across it. The book describes it as follows:
"Oradour-sur-Glane was an unexceptional town until the afternoon of 10 June 1944, when German Lorries bearing an SS detachment rumbled into town. The town's entire population was ordered to assemble at the market square. The men were divided into groups and forced into granges (barns), where they were gunned down before the structures were set alight. Several hundred women and children were herded into the church, inside which a bomb was detonated; those who tried to escape though the windows were shot before the building was set on fire. The Nazi troops then burned down the entire town; inside the 328 buildings left smouldering that evening were the corpses of dozens of civilians who had hidden to avoid capture. Of the people rounded up that day - among them refugees from Paris and a couple of Jewish families living under assumed names - only one woman and five men survived; 642 people, including 205 children, were killed. Since these events, the entire village has been left untouched to serve as a memorial."
How horrifying to think of this senseless killing of innocent people, and even more horrifying to think that this was only one village - how many other villages have not been preserved as memorials that suffered similar if not worse fates? Not to demean the events of 9-11, but clearly, similar atrocities have been going on for thousands of years to hundreds of other countries. In a war of atrocities, so many are forgotten - Oradour is a ghostly reminder, "lest we forget".
There were several things that really hit home to me in the village. All of the buildings were sufficiently intact that you could guess what they were, and they really did look like people had just dropped everything and left. It was a living town suddenly cut short.
There were a number of really poignant signs throughout the village. At the front of the entrance, a solemn charge:
Another, marking one of the places where people were burned alive:
(Translation)
Here
A place of torture
A group of men were massacred and burned by the Nazis
Meditate/Think on this
Very rough translation of another sign, posted on the wall of this church:
Church of Oradur-sur-Glane
Here, certain of the women and children were massacred by the Nazis
You who pass by, meditate [think on this]
You who believe, say a prayer
For the victims and their families
On the ruins of this village their souls remain standing
In front, the statue of Christ on the cross
Inside, Our Lady of Lourdes and Bernadette
"Come to me, you who suffer" says Christ
"Do as he says" says the Virgin
They rest in peace, for they live in eternity
We didn't enjoy it much since poor Min had her worst allergy attack ever there - must have been something in the horse hay, we didn't know what - but we couldn't wait to get out of there. While it was kind of interesting, and the horse displays were impressive (when they actually did the tricks), it really wasn't worth the drive or the money.
After Saumur we stopped in Poitiers for lunch. There wasn't much there, it was really just a pit stop on our way to Perigueux. What I found was that pretty much every city in France, no matter how small, has something to see - usually at least 1 cathedrale and 1 eglise, and some other interesting historical sites or beautiful buildings besides. After a while though I feel like I'm seeing nothing but churches and old buildings and seeing them in one city is pretty much the same as in another. Horrible to say (I can see now how the French get so complacent about their own country) but sadly true.
Anyway, point being Poitiers was cute but nothing special and we trucked on towards our second goal, Oradour-sur-Glane. We ended up driving on some pretty small roads for this and as a result we ran into a sign pointing at "Monoliths". Sounded like something of historical importance (we looked it up in our trusty Lonely Planet and discovered that monoliths are like the stones used in Stonehenge), and Min reasoned, why else did we get a rental car if not to make pitstops and discoveries along the way to our destinations? So we parked the car at the designated spot and embarked on a trek through insects and wild grass, truly not knowing where we were going or how far we had to trek but fueled only by (Minora's) excitement. Mission accomplished: we found a big rock.
Although it was weird to think that someone at some point had dragged this huge slab out in the middle of nowhere - it was completely far away from even the smallest village - for some unknown reason. Or was it just deposited there by nature - or by aliens? And this wasn't the only monolith, there were more scattered across the countryside that we didn't visit (thank goodness). The mystery continues....
After the monolith - onwards towards Oradour. I now have to spend some time describing this because it was a very poignant moment in our trip for both Min and me. France has been delivered first-hand blows in both world wars and there are reminders and remnants all over the country, one of which is Oradour-sur-Glane. (The village is Oradour, and the "sur-Glane" part refers to the fact that it is situated on the river Glane.) We may never have set out to find this place if we hadn't both separately been reading Lonely Planet and come across it. The book describes it as follows:
"Oradour-sur-Glane was an unexceptional town until the afternoon of 10 June 1944, when German Lorries bearing an SS detachment rumbled into town. The town's entire population was ordered to assemble at the market square. The men were divided into groups and forced into granges (barns), where they were gunned down before the structures were set alight. Several hundred women and children were herded into the church, inside which a bomb was detonated; those who tried to escape though the windows were shot before the building was set on fire. The Nazi troops then burned down the entire town; inside the 328 buildings left smouldering that evening were the corpses of dozens of civilians who had hidden to avoid capture. Of the people rounded up that day - among them refugees from Paris and a couple of Jewish families living under assumed names - only one woman and five men survived; 642 people, including 205 children, were killed. Since these events, the entire village has been left untouched to serve as a memorial."
How horrifying to think of this senseless killing of innocent people, and even more horrifying to think that this was only one village - how many other villages have not been preserved as memorials that suffered similar if not worse fates? Not to demean the events of 9-11, but clearly, similar atrocities have been going on for thousands of years to hundreds of other countries. In a war of atrocities, so many are forgotten - Oradour is a ghostly reminder, "lest we forget".
There were several things that really hit home to me in the village. All of the buildings were sufficiently intact that you could guess what they were, and they really did look like people had just dropped everything and left. It was a living town suddenly cut short.
There were a number of really poignant signs throughout the village. At the front of the entrance, a solemn charge:
Another, marking one of the places where people were burned alive:
(Translation)
Here
A place of torture
A group of men were massacred and burned by the Nazis
Meditate/Think on this
Very rough translation of another sign, posted on the wall of this church:
Church of Oradur-sur-Glane
Here, certain of the women and children were massacred by the Nazis
You who pass by, meditate [think on this]
You who believe, say a prayer
For the victims and their families
On the ruins of this village their souls remain standing
In front, the statue of Christ on the cross
Inside, Our Lady of Lourdes and Bernadette
"Come to me, you who suffer" says Christ
"Do as he says" says the Virgin
They rest in peace, for they live in eternity
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