Silent village : life and death in occupied France / Robert Pike.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pike, Robert, author.

Contributor:

Dorothy Mann Yeakel & Paul Herbert Yeakel Memorial Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

World War, 1939-1945--Atrocities.

World War, 1939-1945.

Atrocities.

Oradour-sur-Glane Massacre, Oradour-sur-Glane, France, 1944.

War criminals--Germany--History--20th century.

War criminals.

Germany.

History.

France--Oradour-sur-Glane.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

382 pages : illustrations (black and white), maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Cheltenham : The History Press, 2021.

Summary:

"A vital examination of one of the most despicable Second World War massacres and a great unsolved war crime that does not shy away from asking the hard questions. The tide had turned. On a warm Saturday in South-West France, just four days after the Allies had landed in Normandy, a small provincial town was existing just as it had done in the four years since France had fallen to Germany. By the end of the afternoon 642 men, women and children had been murdered, their bodies burned and the town pillaged and destroyed by flames. Oradour had Vichy administrators. It had evacuees from Alsace Lorraine, refugees from Spain, Jews in hiding, young men hiding from forced labour. Until 1942 it had been home to a holding work camp for foreigners. Yet witnesses have always claimed it had no links to the Resistance. None of this made any difference; all suffered the same fate. Over the seven decades that followed theories have emerged, none of which have been proven, most of which do not hold up to close examination. The Nazi reasons given for the massacre do not hold up to scrutiny, and there is even the suggestion that this was a Franco-German war crime. In recent decades France has been forced to ask uncomfortable questions about its Vichy past. Now it is time to look at the prelude, circumstances and aftermath of the massacre of Oradour. All avenues will be explored; its communities and its people's stories told. Its place in the history of France's dark years re-considered"--Publisher's description.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: pt. One The Long Road

Battles of a Priest

The Freedom Tree

The Glove-makers

Autarky

A Well-to-do Village

The Way Home

The Entrepreneur

A Future of Music

`He Knows How to Teach'

Just a Road Worker

A Picture Postcard

Mobilisation

Evacuees

Turmoil

Exodus

The Road

`A Surly Man of Great Pessimism'

Marechal, Nous Voila

The Mosellans

A Bigger Congregation

The Camp

The Shoes Scandal

The Camp Commander

A Return to Roots

Under Surveillance

A Restricted Life

`The Prestige of the Marshal Remains Intact'

Bellevue

Occupation

A Store Cupboard for the Reich

The Tanner

The Return of Otto

Refractaires

The Petites Juives

The Sign of the Gamma

Watching in a Rigorous Silence

Stolen Youth

A New Girl

Link and Filter

Odette

1944

Brehmer

A Summer of Outsiders

pt. Two The Tenth

Gatherings

Early Risers

Fate

Over the Threshold

Clouds in the Morning

Arrival

Intentions

Setting Up a Cordon

They Have Killed One of our Soldiers

Hiding Places

`The Boches are Here!'

Gunshots

A Round-Up

The Sounds of Separation

The Barn

The Service Tram

Sanctuary

The Laudy-Mosnier Barn

Witnesses

The Sacristy

The Cyclists

Dying of Thirst

Tough Decisions

The Old Man

The Burnt Page

The Evening Tram

The Miraculous

A Path

pt. Three Hellscape

Das Reich

Saint-Junien

Numb

A Key with No Door

Discoveries

Monday and Tuesday

Destinies

A Question of Survival

Whispers

Patry

FiUiol

The Cathedral

The Same Question

Smokescreen

Conclusion.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Dorothy Mann Yeakel & Paul Herbert Yeakel Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

0750991348

9780750991346

OCLC:

1203135969

Publisher Number:

99989027227