Emmanuel Macron arrived Saturday morning in Oradour-sur-Glane to preside over the ceremonies of the 73rd anniversary of the massacre of 642 villagers on the 10th June 1944 by the the SS Das Reich division who joined the Normandy front in a bloody operation.
The Head of State was welcomed by some of the 500 children from the new village of Oradour-sur-Glane, and all over France to participate in this ceremony.
He then joined the former church of Oradour where more than 450 women and children were trapped and burned alive, men, divided into six groups, being slaughtered in barns before the town is fully burnt.
In this church, Emmanuel Macron has found Robert Hébras, 91, the last survivor of the massacre of Oradour-sur-Glane, with whom he spent nearly an hour with on the streets of the old village, which was left deserted since its destruction.
The Head of State made a speech at 11.15am which according to the Elysee, is particularly aimed at “young” to call them to “remember” Nazi barbarism and to draw lessons for the present .
Emmanuel Macron had already visited in late April in Oradour-sur-Glane, on the campaign trail, promising to Robert Hébras to return to preside over the ceremony if elected.
Only living witness of the massacre after the death of Jean-Marcel Darthout in October 2016, Robert Hébras himself had been machine-gunned and left for dead in a garage, where he had managed to escape despite the fire.
Arrived yesterday in Haute-Vienne, where he discussed the crisis of agriculture and rural life, Emmanuel Macron spent the night at the prefecture in Limoges, having chaired the Friday evening a “Republican Banquet” with local elected officials .
He also visited Saturday early morning in a farm in Châteauponsac where he attended a sheep shearing demonstration in the World Championship perspective of specialty to be held in July 2019 at Dorat, a neighboring municipality.
