Oradour-sur-Glane, a tiny French town frozen in time. The french have not touched anything in the town since the day 200 Waffen SS Nazi soldiers slaughtered nearly every inhabitant of the village. 642 innocent civilians, including 245 women and 207 children. The only survivor was 47-year-old Marguerite Rouffanche. She escaped through a rear window of the churh, followed by a young woman and child. All three were shot, two of them fatally. Rouffanche crawled to some pea bushes and remained hidden overnight until she was found and rescued the next morning. About 20 people fled thew town when the SS troops arrived. A few other were out hunting.
To say that this pace feels HEAVY would be a real understatement. It is horrific and you feel it come on as you walk through the ruins of what was once a peaceful and beautiful village, seeing things that once belonged to living people. The buildings are labeled “Dentist”, “Flower Shop”, “Cafe”. You heart sinks as you look at bed frames, cars, sewing machines. There are a lot of sewing machines and I believe that have been made prominent to say “THESE WERE REAL PEOPLE! Just like you and me…PEOPLE.” There are also plaques with the photos of the people who lived in these homes, not houses…homes.
On those plaques you see the family…and the children..and you just start to think..”What kind of people kill children?” Now, I have to confess, this made me think of the half a million innocent women and children we, the United States, has killed in 18 years of bombing in the Middle East. Would we be outraged if we saw the faces of the women and children, like I do here? Obviously…..
That is why our media isn’t allowed to show us that. Obviously, again.
My kids even commented. My daughter, Mina, who is half German, on her mother’s side said it made her feel terrible guilty. We talked, at great length about what people do in war. I can imagine that some of those soldiers suffered in horror from their acts. They could not have all been heartless animals.
The officer in charge, that day, Commander Adolf Diekmann, was killed in the D-Day invasion. Thank you, God.
The altar in the Catholic church still bears the scars, from bullets that killed 245 women and 207 children. 
This is the reality of war……the bones of one of the village children in a glass coffin in the cemetery. 
.remember
My Entertaining Life-Steve Carter 
Thank you.
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