The Oradour Massacre and the Vichy Syndrome

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how the case of Oradour-sur-Glane fit into the Vichy Syndrome. It discusses the situation in postwar France and the reorganization of the once German-occupied country and discusses the events leading to the massacre at Oradour-sur-Glane. The paper concludes that the Oradour massacre fits the Vichy Syndrome completely.

From the Paper:

"In conclusion, the Oradour massacre fits the Vichy Syndrome completely. The factions working inside France, both Nazi and Resistance came to battle in the massacre, even though the Nazis attacked the wrong town and there was no evidence of Resistance efforts in Oradour. The massacre represents the division in the country, and Frenchman fighting Frenchman, at a time when it would have made better sense for the French to work together solidly as a team. After the war, the French people refused to rebuild the town on the site, and have made it a memorial site, a lasting memory to the horrors of the German Occupation. Another Oradour was built a short distance away, and some of the survivors moved back there when the new town was completed. Some people believe the French will never forget or forgive the German Occupation of their country, and Oradour and its martyrs are a lasting and very visual reminder of that terrible time in French history. This Vichy Syndrome lives on still today, and it may never heal itself in the French people."

Sample of Sources Used:

• McNeill, A. and Kemp, L. (2003). Occupied France: Commemorating the Deportation. [Online] at: http://new.filter.ac.uk/database/getinsight.php?id=51&seq=228.
• Rousso, H. (1991). The Vichy Syndrome: History and Memory in France since 1944. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
• Williams, M. (2007). In a Ruined State. [Online} at: http://www.oradour.info/ruined/chapter2.htm.

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