Sketches

Tuesday 7 August 2012

Oradour sur Glane

1944, June 10th: Docter Desourteaux parked his car in front of the Pharmacy in Oradour sur Glane. After all that time the Peugeot still stands there, as a reminder of the bloody massacre that took place later that day.

A German detail rode into town, assembled the inhabitants, locked the woman and children in the local church and then shot all present men. A little later they set fire to the church, where 250 women and 200 children were burnt to death. 642 victims, only a handful managed to escape.
The French government left the village in its burnt down state, as a living monument to atrocities of war.
You can visit the site, quite a chilling place. Above the sketch of the rusted and burnt car, below a sketch of the ruins of the parish church. All made on location.


6 comments:

Balaji Venugopal said...

A really chilling reminder of the depths of depravity to which mankind descends every now and then.

Your sketches, as usual, are wonderful.

Rene Fijten said...

Yes horrifying isn´t it. You´d think we should have learned something from these past events, but alas.....

liz said...

what's this, a real life story?
en weer al vind ik je eigen schetsen interessanter dan die uit het lesboek het blogje hierna

Rene Fijten said...

Ja,echt gebeurd. En klopt, dat is precies het probleem wat ik had met het boek, de oefeningen waren waardevol, maar bij dit soort taferelen zou je gemakkelijk de scherpe randjes kwijtraken.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful sketches! It brings what I've read about it to life. Such a sad story!! BJR

Rene Fijten said...

Thank you, BJR.