Oradour-sur-Glane, a place of memory in danger

In less than three hours, life came to a standstill in Oradour-sur-Glane (Haute-Vienne) on June 10, 1944. Over nearly 10 hectares, hundreds of destroyed houses, schools and businesses bear witness to the extent of the massacre. 643 women, men and children were murdered by Nazi forces. Since the disappearance of her grandfather, the last of the survivors, Agathe Hebras fears that memory will fade.

The bad weather nibbles the stones

Benoît Sadry, president of the national association of the families of the martyrs of Oradour-sur-Glane, also lost part of his family in the massacre. “What is worrying today is that these houses are already weakened by almost 80 years in the open air, without protection. It only takes one of the four walls to fall to bring down the whole building. ‘building”, he says. To prevent bad weather from eating away at the stones, they are calling for urgent intervention. “It is the whole that makes sense, it is what makes it possible to understand the extent of the massacre”, explains Agathe Hebras. Today, the church, still standing, concentrates most of the state’s restoration efforts. 85,000 euros are devoted to its conservation.