This is a name I had never heard. A small town in the south of France. It is not easily accessible, a bit off the beaten path. I am a long-time student of history, and yet I persistently find myself learning new things. Studying history is frankly similar to studying the law.
Years ago, I saw a poignant story of an 80th anniversary. No, not of the vaunted and celebrated landings at Normandy. Those were June 6, 1944. I previously worked through some news from the D-Day celebration. See Memorializing (June 2024). Sure, such historical discussions are a departure from the core of workers' compensation. And yet, it is about law and order and our basic humanity.
D-Day was a shock to the National Socialists and their global plans. As unfortunate as it is, such world domination efforts have persisted throughout history. There have been imperialists, monarchists, communists, and even democracies that have perpetrated conquest and delivered human suffering. The world will always face the potential of the next violent threat. There are limited resources, and man will persistently fight to control them.
The shock at Normandy caused the National Socialists to draw troops toward the Allied forces. On June 10, 1944, the "2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich" rolled into Oradour-sur-Glane, a small rural village north of Bordeaux. The National World War II Museum does a fine job of telling its story. The Division was battle-hardened in the east, against the Communists. It was ordered to "support German forces fighting in northern France." Its secondary mission was to "intimidate" the French and "reassert German control."
On June 10, the Division surrounded this little village with "somewhere between 120 and 200 soldiers." They strove to gather the inhabitants to the town center, even from farm fields in the area. The people were segregated, and "197 men were ... forced into six separate barns" and then machine-gunned down. "240 women and 205 children... were forced into the village church," into which grenades were thrown before the building was set afire.
Essentially, the town was massacred. "Only seven people survived." A senseless and brutal massacre. Efforts to explain the actions of the German Division and its leaders have frustrated historians. Some conclude that there was no reason, but simply, Oradour was just "an unfortunate stop the Division made on the way to Normandy."
Is Oradour special? Unique? Some would say no. There were a great many villages and municipalities destroyed by the National Socialists and the Allied response. But Oradour remains today to be viewed. Purportedly on the orders of Charles de Gaulle, the site has been "preserved, and the remains were to become a national memorial." A new village was built nearby, but the original Oradour remains today in much the same condition that it was left by the Socialists in June 1944. It is said to be "a village frozen in time."
On May 12, 2026, I stood in that town. I experienced their memory. I reflected on the violence of the Socialists. We pause periodically in remembrance. We are reminded of the adages like "war is hell," Sherman, 1879, and "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," George Santayana.
