Oradour-sur-Glane - The car of Doctor Desourteaux (a Peugeot model 202) at the French village, scene of a 1944 nazi massacre
Oradour-sur-Glane was a village in the Limousin région of France that was destroyed on 10 June 1944, when 642 of its inhabitants — men, women and children — were murdered by a German Waffen-SS company. Today it is preserved as it was left as a permanent memorial. The car of Doctor Desourteaux (a Peugeot model 202) on the Champ de Foire (Fairground). According to Sarah Farmer in her book, Martyred Village, this is actually the car of the town wine merchant. The Doctor's car was moved from the Champ de Foire to his property several days after the massacre. The doctor had arrived back in Oradour from visiting a patient whilst the round-up of the townspeople was taking place. He parked his car here and joined his father the mayor in waiting to see what was going to happen. This view is one of the best known of all the images of Oradour, symbolising as it does, a frozen instant of time. As can be seen the vehicle is gradually fading away and all the original paint has long gone. The preservation of such remains is going to become a major problem for the future, as inevitably they will decay. The main road running through Oradour, the 'Rue Emile Desourteaux' can be seen in the background.
Size: 5200px × 3466px
Location: Oradour-sur-Glane, Limousin, France
Photo credit: © Tony Kwan / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 202, 1944, atrocity, car, desourteaux, doctor, france, french, german, killing, limousin, martyr, massacre, memory, murder, nazi, oradour, peugeot, preservation, preserved, ruin, ruins, rusty, soldiers, ss, troops, village
