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Silent Village: The Life and Death of Oradour-sur-Glane
'Based on eye-witness accounts, Robert Pike’s moving book vividly depicts the lives of the villagers who were caught up in the tragedy of Oradour-sur-Glane and brings their experiences to our attention for the first time.' - Hanna Diamond, author of Fleeing Hitler
On 10 June 1944, four days after Allied forces landed in Normandy, the picturesque village of Oradour-sur-Glane in the rural heart of France was destroyed by an armoured SS Panzer division. Six hundred and forty-three men, women and children were murdered in the nation’s worst wartime atrocity. Today, Oradour is remembered as a ‘martyred village’ and its ruins preserved, but the stories of its inhabitants lie buried under the rubble of the intervening decades. Silent Village gathers the powerful testimonies of survivors in the first account of Oradour as it was both before the tragedy and in its aftermath. Why this peaceful community was chosen for extermination has remained a mystery. Putting aside contemporary hearsay, Nazi rhetoric and revisionist theories, Robert Pike returns to the archival evidence to narrate the tragedy as it truly happened – and give voice to the anguish of those left behind.
On 10 June 1944, four days after Allied forces landed in Normandy, the picturesque village of Oradour-sur-Glane in the rural heart of France was destroyed by an armoured SS Panzer division. Six hundred and forty-three men, women and children were murdered in the nation’s worst wartime atrocity. Today, Oradour is remembered as a ‘martyred village’ and its ruins preserved, but the stories of its inhabitants lie buried under the rubble of the intervening decades. Silent Village gathers the powerful testimonies of survivors in the first account of Oradour as it was both before the tragedy and in its aftermath. Why this peaceful community was chosen for extermination has remained a mystery. Putting aside contemporary hearsay, Nazi rhetoric and revisionist theories, Robert Pike returns to the archival evidence to narrate the tragedy as it truly happened – and give voice to the anguish of those left behind.
575 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 30, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 27, 2021
Meticulous account of a truly dreadful event in WW2 when the Nazis exterminated 653 men, women and children from the village of Oradour sur Glane for no apparent reason. Pike has left us with a very full record of names and events as well as eye witness accounts from survivors- awful. Shockingly a number of the top Nazis were left to live normal lives until their deaths. Excellent record although not an easy read .
February 4, 2025
I'd heard about the massacre at Oradour-sur-Glane previously, so the basic events about which this book was based were not new to me, but the author still managed to shock and sadden with this extremely well-researched book. Pike chooses to focus on the stories of those within the village brutally slaughtered as part of this terrible war crime, and in doing so provides a very human insight into the horror, with extensive use of eyewitness accounts.
My only criticism, and I appreciate the fact many would disagree with me (including myself at times!) relates to the structuring of the book. I understand why the author chose to do so, but the first half of the book deals with normal village life leading up to the massacre, biographical details of a large number of villagers, their daily activities, families and friends. In doing so Pike succeeds in making a very valid point about Oradour-sur-Glane being a diverse and ordinary community (not a hotbed of resistance as was retrospectively claimed by some attempting to justify the mass executions) of people just trying to get by in occupied France. However, I found the large number of similar names difficult to keep track of in places, and some of the minutiae of village life bordered on the tedious and lengthy. Unavoidable, I guess, in seeking to achieve the setting of the incident.
The second half, dealing with the horrors of June 10th 1944, the slaughter of 643 of the village population (including 247 children), the immediate aftermath, and attempts to provide historical explanations, was gripping. Horrific, but compelling reading.
My only criticism, and I appreciate the fact many would disagree with me (including myself at times!) relates to the structuring of the book. I understand why the author chose to do so, but the first half of the book deals with normal village life leading up to the massacre, biographical details of a large number of villagers, their daily activities, families and friends. In doing so Pike succeeds in making a very valid point about Oradour-sur-Glane being a diverse and ordinary community (not a hotbed of resistance as was retrospectively claimed by some attempting to justify the mass executions) of people just trying to get by in occupied France. However, I found the large number of similar names difficult to keep track of in places, and some of the minutiae of village life bordered on the tedious and lengthy. Unavoidable, I guess, in seeking to achieve the setting of the incident.
The second half, dealing with the horrors of June 10th 1944, the slaughter of 643 of the village population (including 247 children), the immediate aftermath, and attempts to provide historical explanations, was gripping. Horrific, but compelling reading.
January 1, 2022
This is a long and detailed documentation of the annihilation of the village of Oradour san glane in southern France in 1944. The author takes great care in telling the background of countless citizens of this town, honoring their uniqueness as individuals. While it paints a lovely picture of a fine and caring group of people who embraced many refugees and foreigners from around Europe, it takes a long time to reach the “meat” of the story: what actually happened and the aftermath. There is much to learn about the Vichy government as well as the diverse populations and sympathies in that area during the war.
August 18, 2021
The story of the massacre at Oradour sur Glane to is not unknown., but what this author has done is to flesh out the story, giving a lot of background of the villagers, what brought them to this peaceful, hardworking village, where they lived and what they did for a living. A lot of them were refugees from Spain or from north-east France. and he
has sympathetically described the way be disparate incomers formed a peaceful small community, schools, churrch, , farms and businesses.
The description of the massacre is heart rending and of the way it is described makes for painful reading, because we already know these people we feel their agony all the more.
My problem with the book over overall is that it reads like a very poor translation. As a former languages teacher I felt myself aching to take out a red pen and underline some of the worst examples . Where on earth was the editor? Although the book itself is engaging, to anyone with a background in French it is sloppy and badly written
has sympathetically described the way be disparate incomers formed a peaceful small community, schools, churrch, , farms and businesses.
The description of the massacre is heart rending and of the way it is described makes for painful reading, because we already know these people we feel their agony all the more.
My problem with the book over overall is that it reads like a very poor translation. As a former languages teacher I felt myself aching to take out a red pen and underline some of the worst examples . Where on earth was the editor? Although the book itself is engaging, to anyone with a background in French it is sloppy and badly written
January 13, 2022
A Piece Of History Unknown
There is so much to learn from this book. France’s capitulation to the Germans and it’s willingness to work with evil surprised me greatly. And then the people of the village! It broke my heart! A real lesson in not compromising our own beliefs in hopes of securing a way to coexist with evil.
There is so much to learn from this book. France’s capitulation to the Germans and it’s willingness to work with evil surprised me greatly. And then the people of the village! It broke my heart! A real lesson in not compromising our own beliefs in hopes of securing a way to coexist with evil.
November 23, 2022
A very moving story
A very well researched book. The effort to introduce virtually every member of the village becomes almost tedious, but is critical to establishing the magnitude of the massacre. It would feel disrespectful to stop once you start reading.
A very well researched book. The effort to introduce virtually every member of the village becomes almost tedious, but is critical to establishing the magnitude of the massacre. It would feel disrespectful to stop once you start reading.
November 11, 2024
Tough but a must read.
Hard to believe this could happen, but it did and this book humanizes the event.
Regardless, the brutality is shocking, but important to never forget the victims.
Hard to believe this could happen, but it did and this book humanizes the event.
Regardless, the brutality is shocking, but important to never forget the victims.
June 14, 2024
A timeless look into life within occupied France. The shocking events that took place 80 years ago should never be forgotten.
February 2, 2023
After this book the dead of Oradour-sur-Glane are no longer silent and their lives and voices can be heard loud and clear - and that is how it should be. To often and for too long the names and the voices of perpetrators of heinous acts - it doesn't matter if they are war criminals or mass murderers - are the ones preserved and heard. The victims while official commemorated are way to often forgotten. Mr. Pike's book is about the citizens of Oradour, then. The women and way to many children who were ruthlessly slaughtered - not forno reason - but to drive terror into the hearts of others to show anyone doubt what the German could do - and because Oradour was isolated and easily surrounded and contained and because it didn't have any resistance in it - the town and it's people were easy to destroy.
Giving voices to the dead, and the survivors, is what makes this book powerful and important. That it also clears up many of the rumours and confusions the have clung to the story is also admirable. But in the end I hope you will be as moved as I was by the stories of the no longer silent people, not martyrs, not heroes, not symbols but real people who died because it was possible - one of the most universal but most horrible reasons.
Giving voices to the dead, and the survivors, is what makes this book powerful and important. That it also clears up many of the rumours and confusions the have clung to the story is also admirable. But in the end I hope you will be as moved as I was by the stories of the no longer silent people, not martyrs, not heroes, not symbols but real people who died because it was possible - one of the most universal but most horrible reasons.
January 28, 2023
The book starts slowly but builds to an horrific close. I followed this book with an online piece about Himmler and the SS. The piece even mentions the town from the Silent Village. More people need to be aware of this history.
December 18, 2023
Another story of WW2 and the crimes committed by the Nazis, this time against the people that lived in the 'SILENT VILLAGE' of Oradour-sur-Glane in France
January 20, 2022
very good
There is a great deal of information in the book I was not aware of. Very interesting. Tell the story of the people of the village.
There is a great deal of information in the book I was not aware of. Very interesting. Tell the story of the people of the village.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews