frenchaucoeur

Walking through Oradour was unforgettable, and anything I might say about my reaction would be redundant; others have expressed it all very well.

One thing that stays with me is the faces of the teenagers who were visiting with their families. I saw many kids in their teens looking around in disbelief and horror, as if seeing Oradour made real to them what they'd heard about all their lives. Their reactions speak to the need to have places of remembrance like Oradour and, yes, the concentration camps. In their stark reality, they ensure that we can never forget.

If only we could also remember what happens when we hate, demonize, and dehumanize people and what words can lead to.

TravelerKaren

kerouac: Thank for this moving report. Just horrific.

menachem

I think you shouldn't have asked this question here. Didn't you read the opening post?

Rocket79

I'm so glad I saw this. I have nothing to add except that my visit to Oradour in the mid 1990s was the same as others have noted. A very somber day, is an understatement.

Thanks, Kerouac.

kerouac

Strangely enough, I found myself walking along rue Oradour-sur-Glane in Paris yesterday. I didn't even know that such a street existed. Obviously, the big cities of France want to honor all possible events of the past, but would you want to live on a street with a name like that? In fact, this street is just outside of the périphérique at Porte de Versailles and about the only places that have to suffer with this name are an Adagio apart-hotel and the big Hôtel Oceania aimed at budget tourists, as well as a few office buildings.

StCirq

One does have to wonder why anyone would name a street after such an atrocity. I can't think of a single reason....