el-granada.com - The Ketchums in France - Saturday July 7, 2007 Day 11

France 2007

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Friday July 6,2007
Day 10 - Amboise to Chinon

Saturday July 7, 2007
Day 11 - Chinon to Beynac-et-Cazenac

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Sunday July 8, 2007
Day 12 - Beynac-et-Cazenac

Saturday morning we left Chinon around 10am for Beynac. This was to be our one long travel day - all other travel days we expected to be on the road perhaps three hours; we expected to be on the road six to eight hours today. We made very poor time, travelling country rouds, eventually running into weekend traffic jams. By 2pm or so we arrived in Oradour-sur-Glane.

On June 10, 1944, shortly after D-Day, Waffen-SS troops arrived in Oradour-sur-Glane. The men were lined up against walls and shot at various sites around the town. They herded the women and children into the church, where they were slaughtered with gernades and machine guns before torching the church, the bodies, and the entire town for good measure. One women from the church, and 5 men, survived. 642 men, women, and children were slaughtered. Most of the Waffen-SS responsible for these insane crimes were killed by the end of the war. Most others were never tried – Germany refused to extradite anyone to be tried. Of the few that were tried, almost all were acquitted, since they were just ‘following orders’. All of these injustices have forever appalled the French in the Limousin region. The ruins of the town are frozen in time and a permanant and undeniable reminder to the atrocities of man.

Oradour-sur-Glane - the church where the women and children were slaughtered

Oradour-sur-Glane - The church

Oradour-sur-Glane - ‘On this spot men were murdered by Nazi troops – Remember’

Oradour-sur-Glane

There is a good museum explaining the history of the town, and the history of the particular Waffen-SS unit that committed the atrocities. Some of the displays, and parts of the movie, were in English. There were several signs all over town reading (in French) ‘On this spot men were murdered by Nazi troops – Remember’

Shortly after Oradour-sur-Glane we got on the freeway and made excellent time. It was now fairly hot. We stopped at a huge, packed truck stop on the freeway for diesel and very late lunch. We drove in along the Dordogne River – it was quite scenic, and took perhaps an hour to reach Beynac-et-Cazenac from the freeway. We found the hotel and checked in. The kids went swimming for a while in the new but fairly chilly pool in back of the hotel. The Hotel was nice. We knew the rooms lacked air conditioning, which was a problem. The rooms were fairly small - we traded our room with a balcony with the kids to get the larger corner room. Bar noise was a bit of an issue, but street noise... all night long... was a bigger problem.

Hotel du Chateau in Beynac-et-Cazenac.
Our rooms were on the first floor (2nd floor US) directly above the near corner entrance, and the first room with the balcony on this end.
Most of the town is visible on the hillside behind the hotel.
This is the only real intersection in this town.
The church is at the top - the castle is just behind the church.

Brasserie Le Ti Malo in Beynac-et-Cazenac

Brasserie Le Ti Malo in Beynac-et-Cazenac

We had dinner at the Brasserie Le Ti Malo down on the river.

Prev
Friday July 6,2007
Day 10 - Amboise to Chinon

Saturday July 7, 2007
Day 11 - Chinon to Beynac-et-Cazenac

Next
Sunday July 8, 2007
Day 12 - Beynac-et-Cazenac