Oradour-sur-Glane

Oradour-sur-Glane - darkometer rating : 8 - A former village in France which in WWII was virtually wiped out on 10 June 1944 when SS -soldiers (of the "Das Reich" unit) massacred nearly the entire population and all but razed the village to the ground. The operation is said to have been an act of reprisal for increased resistance in the area (esp. since the Normandy D-Day Landings on 6 June), but clearly must have been an out-of control wild killing frenzy. Most of the women and children died locked in the church. The SS men then set the church ablaze and blew up the spire, which crashed into the nave. The male villagers were mostly shot. Only a small handful of villagers escaped the atrocity. The death toll was 642 – the vast majority women and children. After the war, the village was rebuilt nearby and the ruins of the old village left as they were. This is now something like a national shrine – bearing the official full name of "Village Martyr D'Oradour-sur-Glane". It is certainly one of France 's most gripping and sinister dark tourism destinations. In addition to walking through the ghost town of the ruined village, where even some rusting burned-out old cars lie in the streets, a visit to the place includes a very modern museum, or Memorial Centre, that tells the story of this tragic place (including a short film in English). See also the Alsace-Moselle Memorial , which has a section about the involvement of soldiers from Alsace drafted mostly against their will and whose post-war trials cause a deep rift between the two regions of France until more recent reconciliation efforts. Opening times: The Memorial Centre is open daily between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. in summer (16 May to 15 September – closes one or two hours earlier outside the summer high season), closed between 16 December and 31 January.