Silent Village

On 10 June 1944, four days after the Allies landed in Normandy, Oradour-sur-Glane in rural 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 lay buried under the rubble. Silent Village is the first account of Oradour before and after the tragedy, told through the eyes of those who lived there. The years of occupation are brought vividly to life in this unique account of the lives, loves and rivalries of a typical village in Vichy France. Why this peaceful community was chosen for extermination has remained a mystery. Drawing on interviews with survivors and a re-examination of the archives, Robert Pike relates the tragedy as it happened and the anguish of those left behind. While disproving hearsay and later theories, he presents a clear if uncomfortable answer to the question: why Oradour?