Nothing in the life of Oradour-sur-Glane, a village about ten miles north-west of Limoges, was anything like as spectacular and dramatic as its death. It survived the religious wars and revolutions. The biggest blow was the 1914-18 war in which nearly a hundred of its men died, but the village itself was unscathed.
The name Oradour means ‘place of prayer’. In the Limoges region there are other Oradours, such as Oradour-sur-Vayres and Oradour-Saint-Genest. The origin of the church of Oradour-sur-Glane is unknown although the oldest part is manifestly 12th century. The nave and side chapels date from the 15th century. The tower, which supported the now-vanished steeple, was fortified during the religious wars, in common with other churches, when they became strongpoints.
The cemetery contains a lanterne des morts of the 12th century. It is one of only seventy-five in France. Seven of these are in Haute-Vienne, the Department in which Oradour is situated. The Oradour lanterne was moved to its present position in 1773 when the old cemetery on the left bank of the River Glane was closed by Charles de Lescours, the lord of the manor. He did not like having a burial place near his manor and offered the village another piece of land on its boundary. He was supported by other landed gentry in the district and the Bishop of Limoges approved the consecration of the new site. However the villagers were strongly opposed to the change and horrified by the prospect of moving the remains of their ancestors, together with their headstones. The people still tried to bury their dead in the old cemetery so the marquis ordered the planting of a hedge of trees and the digging of a deep ditch to discourage further attempts. The people uprooted the trees and filled in the ditch. The cemetery war, which started in 1772, went on until 1783 when the people had to admit defeat. Towards the end, the matter was debated in Parliament and it was decreed that the costs involved in the litigation should be paid by the villagers in proportion to each householder’s tax rating.
The 12th century lanterne des morts in Oradour-sur-Glane cemetery.
The ruins of Oradour have two places named Champ de Foire, which means fairground or market place. The largest is in the centre, just off the main street, and was used by the SS for the round-up of the population prior to their massacre. The other, a shaded lawn, is on the right side of the entrance. The first fairs date from 1563. At the request of the lord of the manor it was decreed, by letters patent of King Charles IX, that there should be four fairs a year in Oradour and a market every Monday.
At first the lords of the manor benefited considerably by taxes imposed on the traders. The Revolution of 1789 put a stop to this practice. Otherwise, the Revolution hardly affected Oradour, although the local aristocracy suffered. Six weather vanes (a weather vane was a privilege of nobility) were removed from the Lescours Château but it escaped the burning suffered by other big houses.
The population has declined during the past century, probably due to the shift to the cities in search of work and better wages. It had reached 1,952 in 1662 and was 1,591 in 1830. In 1944, although inflated by refugees, it was under 1,000. The first school was established in 1330 when the mayor was Jean Desourteaux, whose family name became associated with several mayors.
A tramway, Iinking the village with Limoges, Saint-Junien and Bussière-Pointevine, was laid in 1911 and brought electric light. Street lamps were installed in 1937. Five trams passed daily in each direction. It took one and a quarter hours to get to Limoges, many stops being made en route.
This picture of the tram station at Oradour, taken about 1930, includes the conductor and female stationmaster. The tram (more like an electric train) has a trailer for transporting goods. Another trailer could be used for passengers.
In 1939, Oradour was chosen to accommodate 400 people evacuated from Schiltigheim, a small town near Strasbourg, but after the armistice with the Germans in June 1940 most of them returned home. They were replaced by sixty people expelled from Lorraine. They were mostly from Charly and Monton-Flauville, near Metz. After the war, Charly became Charly-Oradour to commemorate the local victims of the massacre.
In 1944 some people regarded Oradour as a town. It had a mayor and mairie, a post office, a tram station, a bank, a dozen inns, three cafés and four hotels. But the area it covered was comparatively small.
It had a surprising number of trades. There were two bakeries, two butchers’ shops, three charcuteries (pork butchers), four hairdressers, five haberdashers, two hat shops, two cobblers, two tobacconists, two garages, four wheelwrights, two ironmongers, three shoe shops, six timber merchants and a pharmacy.
Although most of the people were of modest means, making their livelihood on the land, there was a number of professional people who had their offices in Limoges. There were some fine houses and villas with large gardens. There were two music groups and two societies for old soldiers – Les Mutilés du Limousin and Les Combattants du Limousin.
It was a generally happy place with little crime. A tobacconist’s had been raided during the war but there had been no attacks on collaborators, although it is believed that there were a few in the village. Military traffic had kept to the main roads. German officers had occasionally visited the village to dine at the hotels and restaurants where black market food augmented the local produce.
Ninety-seven men of the village gave their lives in the 1914-18 war. In the short campaign of 1939-40 four were killed and thirty-two made prisoners. Fourteen were deported to Germany for forced labour. They thought they were unlucky but returned to find that they had been spared an inconceivable disaster. Their homes no longer existed and their families and friends were dead.