Paru le 15/08/2001 | Broché 36 pages
Tout public
translated by David Denton
Oradour-sur-Glane
The tragedy
Hour by hour
Robert Hébras was 19 when, on the 10th. June 1944, his life collapsed in nightmare. In a few short hours, he lost everything : his family, his possessions, and every trace of his past.
The S.S. carried out a well-conceived, diabolic plan : to annihilate a village and any possible witness to their bloodthirsty insanity.
Very few escaped the carnage, which caused 642 victims. One woman and five men emerged from the slaughter. Robert Hébras was one of them. Others escaped the vigilance of the killers as they hid wherever they could.
After many years of silence, Robert Hébras has, at last, spoken out. He tells of the agony he endured, of the S.S. strategy and determination, of the butchers, of whom only a few stoof trial for their crime, and of the difficulties the survivors had to overcome. He tells, too, of all those who were present that fateful day, in Oradour. All those me, women and children who rejoiced in the Allied landings, made four days previously, and looked forward to the end of the everlasting war.
It was not to ben, men decided otherwise in an indescribable bloodbath. They would never know the joy of the Liberation, for they felle victim to a homicidal mania. They died without ever knowing why they died.
You will understand from this account, not only the succession of events as they developed, hour by hour, but also how great was the toement suffered by the victims as they faced their executioners. If the days of enmity are now over, a halfcentury afterwards, yet must we never forget all that intolerance can entail.
May you remember and never forget.
