Oradour massacre

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 4 February 2025

⏱️ 10 minutes

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Summary

In June 1944, a village in France was destroyed in just one day. German soldiers entered Oradour-sur-Glane and gathered the villagers together. They separated the men from the women and children and took groups to different locations of the village.

On that day, 642 were killed. Robert Hébras was just a teenager at the time.

Robert’s granddaughter, Agathe Hébras tells Gill Kearsley his powerful story, from the arrival of the soldiers to his escape and then his realisation that he was one of the few survivors of the massacre.

A warning, this programme contains descriptions of death.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.

(Photo: Robert Hebras at age 86, walks through the ruins of Oradour-sur-Glane. Credit: Jean-Pierre Muller/AFP via Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I want to tell you why I love podcasting. Hi, my name's Tommy Dixon,
0:06.3	and I make podcasts for the BBC. I'm a big fan of stories, always loved a good book. But when I started
0:12.0	commuting for my first job, I discovered podcasts. I was blown away by how a creative idea and the right
0:17.8	mixture of sounds could take you into a whole new world full of incredible stories. You know, the type that make you go, wow. And that kind of inspired me to
0:25.2	give it a go myself, which to cut a long story short led to a BBC training scheme and a whole
0:29.9	new career giving other people that exact same feeling. So if you want to hear amazing stories
0:34.1	that make you go wow like I did, they're just a tap or click away on BBC Sounds.
0:44.3	Hello and welcome to the witness history podcast from the BBC World Service with me, Jill Kursley.
0:50.5	I'm taking you back to the Second World War, to the small village of Orador-Saglan,
0:55.8	which is around 420 kilometres southwest of Paris in France.
1:01.1	This village was destroyed in just one day, the 10th of June, 1944.
1:08.0	Hundreds of people were killed by German soldiers.
1:11.6	The Germans assembled the whole population here, men on one side, women and children on the other.
1:17.6	The ostensible reason, some imaginary fault committed its believed in another village altogether against the occupying German forces.
1:25.6	Orador will never be forgotten by France or her allies.
1:29.3	This appalling cruelty is the Germany we're all fighting.
1:34.3	The effects are still felt today.
1:37.3	The ruins of the village are preserved just as they were after the massacre.
1:41.3	And a warning this programme contains descriptions of death.
1:46.4	This story is told by Agat Hebrass.
1:50.6	My grandfather was Robert Ebras and he was the last survivor of the massacre of Oradur.
1:58.2	He was 19 years old when it happened. On his day, he lost his old village
	...

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