Oradour-sur-Glane in 1944

Good lord, just read this story about this SS Officer involved in the massacre of a whole town (and others) in France in 1944. I know a lot of atrocities happened all over the war zones areas and for the duration of WW2, but learning about ones I hadn't heard about before is always so astounding to me ... that so many people were victims of the SS. Atrocious events and numbers are incomprehensible.

As far as I'm concerned NO Mr. Barth, you did not pay long enough or in the right way for what you done, especially considering you bopped along free from responsibility and accountability until 1981 leaving ended lives and grief that never quits for the losses and destruction in your wake!!!

Sigh.

August 14, 2007

Ex-SS officer Heinz Barth dead at 86

By THOMAS SEYTHAL

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) - Heinz Barth, a former SS officer convicted of involvement in the massacre of an entire village in Nazi-occupied France, has died, a priest in the town where he lived said Tuesday. He was 86.

Barth died of cancer in the past few days, said Heinz-Dieter Schmidtke, the parish priest in Gransee, north of Berlin. He could not provide the exact date of Barth's death and did not say where he died.

In 1983, a court in East Berlin convicted Barth and sentenced him to life in prison for his role in the slaughter of villagers in Oradour-sur-Glane in 1944, widely considered the worst atrocity in Nazi-occupied France.

On June 10, 1944, as they headed toward Normandy to combat D-Day invasion forces who landed four days earlier, German troops of the armoured SS Division "Das Reich" slaughtered 642 men, women and children in the village.

The Germans rounded up the village men, forced them into barns and machine-gunned them. The 241 women and 209 children were herded into the church, which was set afire with grenades, and then were shot at with machine-guns.

In addition to involvement in the massacre, East German judges also found that Barth volunteered to participate in an execution of 92 Czech civilians in 1942.

Barth lived under a false name in communist East Germany, working as a decorator in Gransee and running a grocery store, until his identity emerged in 1981 and he was imprisoned.

In 1997, a state court freed Barth on health grounds, commuting his sentence to probation. Barth, who lost a leg in the war, suffered from diabetes, high blood pressure and other ailments.

"I feel guilty about the terrible crimes in Oradour," Barth was quoted as telling the Berlin tabloid B.Z. at the time of his release. "But I have paid long enough."

Barth's death "reminds France of one of the most tragic episodes of its history," French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office said in a statement. Sarkozy "pays tribute to the victims and to the pain of his descendants," it added.

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

Karmen, google "Lidice"...

The 'sport' wasn't limited to one town.

Thanks Geoff ... will google that another day and time when I'm in the right mood to read more. Can't stomach it at the moment ...

[Rich Payne]

Karmen, were you aware that Oradour has been kept in something like its 1944 condition as a memorial ?

It leaves little to the imagination.

Rich.

Originally posted by Rich Payne
Karmen, were you aware that Oradour has been kept in something like its 1944 condition as a memorial ?

It leaves little to the imagination.

Rich.

Hi Rich.

No. I didn't know anything about this particular place or events until I read this newstory today.

Must be a powerful impact then for any who visit the site. Sacred place and what a memorial so the world doesn't forget the realities of the tragedies and insanities.

Karmen

[John McGillivray]

This French site contains photos of the town both before and after the 10th of June 1944.

http://oradoursurglane.free.fr/

This is something thats always stayed with me after seeing it as a kid on TV, its a quote from "The World at War" BBC series with Sir Laurence Olivier providing the comentary:


Down this road on a summer day in 1944, the soldiers came. Nobody lives here now. They stayed only a few hours. When they had gone, the community, which had lived for a thousand years, was dead. This is Oradour-sur-Glane, in France. The day the soldiers came, the people were gathered together. The men were taken to garages and barns, the women and children were led down this road, and they were driven into this church. Here, they heard the firing as their men were shot. Then they were killed too.

A few weeks later, many of those who had done the killing were themselves dead, in battle.

They never rebuilt Oradour.

Its ruins are a memorial. Its martyrdom stands for thousands upon thousands of other martyrdoms in Poland, in Russia, in Burma, China, in a World at War...

[Alex van de Wetering]

Karmen,

We visited Oradour-sur-Glane about two months ago. It felt strange walking through the streets....almost like walking on a movie-set. If you are ever near this town, than you should really spend some time there.

Alex

[Alex van de Wetering]

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[Alex van de Wetering]

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[Alex van de Wetering]

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[Alex van de Wetering]

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[Alex van de Wetering]

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[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

Sobering photographs indeed, Alex. They bring home just what our boys were doing over there, don't they?

Thank you.

[Alex van de Wetering]

They bring home just what our boys were doing over there, don't they?

It sure does...

Next to Lidice and Oradour, there is also Putten in the Netherlands.

Originally posted by Lynx45
This is something thats always stayed with me after seeing it as a kid on TV, ...

Thank you for telling me/us, in here, more about what happened there, C.D. Horrible events. They can happen again, anywhere, any time, any place and I think the 9/11 and other events really wake people up to that reality and brings that fact home to people around the world. Soldiers and law enforcement are all the protective forces that are available and happening to hold these destructive forces at bay, best they can, for the rest of us who value life and people and try to protect and live side by side with all of our differences.

So hard to comprehend the coldbloodedness and inhumanities people do to others in the name of "I don't want you or you folks in the world (for whatever rationalizing) and I am better and more entitled to life and having it my way, than you, and you're in my way, therefore it's okay to get rid of you and even torture and cruelty are okay"

Karmen

Originally posted by Alex van de Wetering
Karmen,

We visited Oradour-sur-Glane about two months ago. It felt strange walking through the streets....almost like walking on a movie-set. If you are ever near this town, than you should really spend some time there.

Alex

Hi Alex,

Incredible views showing the carcass of that town So very eerie to see the vehicles and things "skeletons" in the skeletal ruins, looking so vulnerable and damaged and is all thats left of a whole vibrant town of men, women, and children going about their lives normally before this destructiveness happened to them.

The place must be very haunting.

It looks like it was a beautiful town before.

Karmen

[Jon Skagfeld]

Originally posted by Vets Dottir 2nd
Good lord, just read this story about this SS Officer involved in the massacre of a whole town (and others) in France in 1944. I know a lot of atrocities happened all over the war zones areas and for the duration of WW2, but learning about ones I hadn't heard about before is always so astounding to me ... that so many people were victims of the SS. Atrocious events and numbers are incomprehensible.

As far as I'm concerned NO Mr. Barth, you did not pay long enough or in the right way for what you done, especially considering you bopped along free from responsibility and accountability until 1981 leaving ended lives and grief that never quits for the losses and destruction in your wake!!!

Sigh.

FYI, I have established a 5' x 5' rock cairn in a private part of my property.

I'm split between signing it in memory of Oradour-sur-Glane or Abbaye d'Ardennes.

Originally posted by Jon Skagfeld
FYI, I have established a 5' x 5' rock cairn in a private part of my property.

Would that be down in that area where you have your firepit? Awesome spots down in those parts of your place, Jon. I remember it.

I'm split between signing it in memory of Oradour-sur-Glane or Abbaye d'Ardennes.

Let us know what you decide?

[Jon Skagfeld]

Yes, and Wilco.

Originally posted by Jon Skagfeld
Yes, and Wilco.

Thanks for replies Jon ... and please say hello to Betty from me

[martylee]

Well, this was a bit heavy reading this morning. The breakfast didn't taste very well after reading this. Looking at the pics, it must be scary walking thru those streets!!?
This is war, and don't forget it!

Marty