French, German presidents mark 80th anniversary of martyred village

RFI

10 June 2024 at 9:31 am·1-min read

French President Emmanuel Macron and his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited the village of Oradour-sur-Glane on Monday, where Nazi troops murdered more than 600 civilians in 1944.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned against the dangers of nationalism Monday, as he visited a World War II massacre site in France a day after European elections saw advances for the far right.

"I would like to express on behalf of Germany my dismay and my affliction at these inconceivable crimes, so cruel and inhuman, perpetrated here by Germans (...)", Steinmeier said at a commemoration ceremony for the village of Oradour-sur-Glane, where Nazi SS soldiers massacred civilians in 1944.

"And I would like to share with you the feeling of shame that inhabits me regarding the fact that assassins subsequently remained unpunished, that they did not atone for the most serious crimes. My country surrendered in this very way guilty again," he added.

Only six people escaped one of the worst massacres of civilians by the Nazis in Western Europe, which left 643 dead: men shot with machine guns by the Waffen SS, then some 450 women and children in the church, before the village of Oradour-sur-Glane was set on fire.

The German President also mentioned Sunday's European elections, marked by the progression of the far right, particularly in France and Germany.

French President Emmanuel Macron responded by calling post-war Franco-German ties "the lifeblood of our European project".

(with AFP)

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