Near the end of World War II, four days after Allied armies landed at Normandy, a unit of Waffen SS troops en route to that front surrounded the French village of Oradour-sur-Glane and, without warning, systematically massacred its citizens. The Nazi soldiers herded women and children into the village church, machine-gunned them, and set the church on fire while some were still alive. The men were taken to barns in groups, where they were shot. Afterward, the Nazis plundered the village and burned it to the ground. Altogether, more than 640 men, women, and children died in Oradour that day.

Jean-Jacques Fouche explores the massacre from several points of view-religious or ethnic differences, the background and training of the Nazi soldiers, and German suspicions that villagers sheltered Jewish and Spanish anti-fascist refugees. Probing the most shocking massacre in World War II France, he shows how memory affects our understanding of the past.

About the Author

Jean-Jacques Fouche, the first director of the Centre de la Memoire d'Oradour, recently completed a new book on Oradour and justice. Currently he is working on radio and television documentatires on the tragedy of Oradour and memory.

Reviews

Fundamentally excellent history, with an unusual style and a mastery of telling detail. Fouche's work carries a sense of immediacy, of real people struggling with fateful events.

-- Harvey Smith, Northern Illinois University

A remarkable achievement.... A very readable and gripping account of the most infamous German atrocity committed on French soil.

-- David Allen Harvey, author of Constructing Class and Nationality in Alsace

A most valuable contribution to truth.

* The European Legacy *



Book Information
ISBN 9780875806013
Author Jean-Jacques Fouche
Format Paperback
Page Count 287
Imprint Northern Illinois University Press
Publisher Cornell University Press
Weight(grams) 454g
Dimensions(mm) 216mm * 140mm * 17mm