Oradour sur Glane (France)

 1944, June 10th, early afternoon: Docter Desourteaux parked his car in front of the
Pharmacy in Oradour sur Glane. It’s now 2012, and 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 caught 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. Skeletons of the burnt houses, empty windows seem to be staring everywhere. And left between the ruins you can find the wrecks of rusty cars and abandoned sewing machines.

Above the sketch of the doctors rusted car in the market square, below a sketch of the ruins of the parish church.