Oradour-The Final Verdict

Killing The Women and Children in the Church

          After they had been separated from the men on the village green, the women and children were marched a short distance to the church. When they had been herded inside, the doors were shut. From time to time, the Germans came in to inspect the interior of the church. Inside, approximately 250 women and 200 children were crammed into a church that normally seated 300, where they waited anxiously in near silence. More than sixty of the children were under six years of age. Some were in baby carriages, and some were being held in their mothers’ arms. After about an hour and one half, at about 5:00 p.m., two Germans opened the front door and pushed the crowd to one side. Mme Rouffranche, who was there with her two daughters, saw them carrying a box of about 1-½ cubic feet to which several “tangled white strings” were attached. The box was clearly heavy. They placed it on two chairs in front of the altar, removed the cover and untangled the fuses (the “white strings” Mme Rouffranche had seen).

          They then lit them and left via the only other door to the church, in the Sainte Anne chapel to the right of the nave (Illustration 20), without saying a word. There was no panic among the women and children because most could not see what was going on. In a few moments, there was a loud, rumbling explosion, which blew out the stained-glass windows. Acrid black smoke filled the church. The smoke was asphyxiating and the women and children cried and screamed in panic as they tried to escape the fumes. Soon, there was a pitiful crush of bodies in front of the now locked door in the Sainte Anne chapel. Shortly afterwards, the Germans opened that door briefly and may have let some of the captives out after which Mme Rouffranche heard machine gun fire coming from that direction.