Oradour-sur-Glane

France

Description

Oradour-sur-Glane (Occitan: Orador de Glana) is a commune in the Haute-Vienne department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in west-central France, as well as the name of the main village within the commune. The original village was destroyed on 10 June 1944, when 642 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 unit of the military forces of Nazi Germany. A new village was built after the war on a nearby site, but on the orders of the then French president, Charles de Gaulle, the original has been maintained as a permanent memorial. The Centre de la mémoire d'Oradour museum is located beside the historic site.