Outrage in France after memorial to victims of Nazi massacre defaced

ORADOUR-SUR-GLANE, France — French President Emmanuel Macron vows that everything will be done to find out who defaced a memorial for one of the worst single massacres in France by the Nazis during World War II.

Politicians from across the spectrum denounce the desecration of the main entrance sign for the memorial at Oradour-sur-Glane in central France, where 642 people were slaughtered on June 10, 1944 by a German SS division.

The word “martyr” was crossed out in the sign with white paint.

A blue cover is placed over the sign today, but images on social media accounts indicate the word in French for “liar” had been added next to it along with other slogans claiming to deny the massacre had taken place.

The inscriptions were discovered yesterday morning when the memorial center opened, its president Fabrice Escure tells AFP.

“It is a complete outrage,” he says, adding that a legal complaint had already been filed and security cameras may be able to provide evidence.

On June 10, 1944, Nazi forces sealed off the village after reports said that a senior SS commander had been captured by the French resistance.

They grouped together all the men of the village in barns and shot them and then forced the women and children into a church which was set on fire.

After the war, resistance leader and later president Charles de Gaulle ordered that the village not be rebuilt but left in ruins as a reminder. A new village was built nearby.

The memorial center, now visited by 300,000 every year, was later constructed to assist visitors.

“Everything will be done to ensure that the authors of this are brought to justice,” Macron says in a statement released by the Elysee Palace, adding that he condemns in the most vehement terms this “unspeakable” act.

The incident comes amid growing concern in France over remembering World War II, after repeated vandalization attacks on Jewish cemeteries.

— AFP