One Day in Oradour (21 page)

The original village of Oradour-sur-Glane was never rebuilt. Left as they were, the ruins were seen as far
more powerful – a symbol of France’s suffering during the war. However, in 1946, two years after the country was liberated from German occupation, the National Assembly authorised the construction of a new town, adjacent to the old. Completed in 1953, when the first few families moved in, the new Oradour provided a fresh start, a new beginning, and yet no one who lived there could – or wanted to – forget the past. The new town would remain a place of mourning for many years to come and there were never any public festivals or celebrations held there, only memorial events for the old town.

It was not until the early 1960s that the residents felt able to begin building a new social life for the town, starting with the construction of a recreation hall which could be used for youth activities and events. Gradually, new blood began to move in and, as the years went by, the town became less restrained by its past. That great healer, time, had led the people of Oradour to a place where they could finally begin to look more positively to the future.

I leave you with the words of survivor Robert Hébras, who still lives close to Oradour-sur-Glane in Saint Junien. Although in his late eighties, Hébras continues to conduct tours of the ruins and, in 2011, helped to make a documentary feature film about the tragedy,
called
Une Vie Avec Oradour
(
A Life With Oradour
). In an interview Hébras gave in April 2002, he spoke about finding that balance between remembering the past and being able to move on:

‘It takes time. It takes time. Time has to pass, as one says… I understand very well that people from my generation may not like (if one can put it that way) to remember defeat. But on the contrary, I think they should tell their children and their grandchildren what happened. These generations want to know, understand. But we shouldn’t point the finger of blame … no army in the world has only good or all bad sides. We must forgive, but perhaps it is necessary to forget some things to get over it.’

I would like to thank the following people for their help and support with the production of this book.

For reading my manuscript, giving me their honest opinion and offering so many words of encouragement: My mum and dad – Irene and David Watts, John and Carolyn Gallagher, my nephew Adam Gallagher, Keith and Merle Yeomans, Kate Whyman, teachers Joy Redrup and Stephanie Cerrone, and Stratford-upon-Avon School’s librarian.

Helen Fry, for first taking me to Oradour-sur-Glane and starting me on this journey, and for her hospitality, fantastic farm cooking and supply of French wine on our subsequent visits there. Thanks also to David, Tom and Anna Fry for entertaining the tribe that came with me on those weekends in France.

Michael Williams, for creating the informative website
www.oradour.info
and for his passion for detail.

Author Tony Bradman, for helping me to find a fabulous publisher and editor, and for the writing workshop which inspired me to ‘have a go’.

The staff at the Centre de la Mémoire in Oradour-sur-Glane, for providing such a powerfully moving, respectful and informative on-site exhibition.

Robert Hébras, survivor of the massacre, for continuing to keep alive the memory of those lost, not least through the published account
The slaughter of our village
which he co-wrote with André Desourteaux and which was such a valuable source of detail.

Kate Paice at Bloomsbury, for her advice and ideas, for her incredibly sensitive and brilliant editing, and for giving me the opportunity to turn my vision into reality.

My children, Jack and Georgia, for putting up with so many ‘quick’ dinners and un-ironed clothes while I worked on this book.

And finally my husband, Jon, for being my sounding board and for his constant and unquestioning support, from the moment I decided to write this book right up to the moment when I typed the final full stop.

The following story is based on true events. However, the names of the characters and many of the locations have been changed, as have certain physical characteristics and other descriptive details. Some of the events and characters are also composites of several individual events or persons, and some events and characters are completely fictional.

Copyright © 2013 A & C Black

This electronic edition published in May 2013 by Bloomsbury Publishing

Text copyright © 2013 Helen Watts

First published 2013 by
A & C Black
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
50 Bedford Square,
London, WC1B 3DP
www.bloomsbury.com

The right of Helen Watts to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved
You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages

A CIP catalogue for this book is available from the British Library.

eISBN 978-1-4081-8202-4 (e-book)

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