Main Altar in Church
The photo above shows the main altar
in the Catholic church in Oradour-sur-Glane. As you can see,
the altar suffered very little damage during the massacre of
the women and children with machine guns and grenades, and the
destruction of the church by fire and bombs. The top of the altar
on the left side is missing, but it is otherwise still intact.
Typically, the main altar in a Catholic
church would have had steps up to it in the front, so that the
priest could have access to the door to the tabernacle, which
is located in the center on top of the altar. The flat surface
of the altar, which is decorated with flowers in this photo,
is about five and a half feet from the floor. The priest would
have needed steps and a space to stand on in order to perform
the ceremonies of the Mass. Before the Sunday Mass, the altar
boys normally would have walked up the steps in order to light
the candles set upon the flat surface of the altar, and a step
ladder would not have been necessary to reach the candles.
The photo below shows a close-up of the
tabernacle of the main altar. Part of the altar is missing on
the left side, but it is mostly undamaged. Behind the altar in
the photo below is the window from which Madame Rouffanche escaped.
On the day of the massacre, the altar of the church had been
lavishly decorated for the next day, which was a special Sunday
when the 7-year-old children in the village would be taking their
First Communion, a big event in the lives of devout Catholics.
According to the Official Publication
of the survivors, the next day after the massacre, the SS soldiers
returned to the church and stole the consecrated communion hosts
from the tabernacle of the main altar, the most grievous crime
imaginable. The Bishop reported this monstrous act to an officer
in the Wehrmacht, the regular German army, who immediately extended
an official apology.
The photo below shows the side panel
of the main altar which appears to have two bullet holes near
the bottom. The second photo below shows the wall that is opposite
the main altar on the right side. The church is very small and
there is not much space between the altar and the side wall,
but apparently an SS soldier was standing with his back against
the wall and firing at the side of the altar, perhaps to kill
children who were huddled there. There is no other possible explanation
for these bullet holes.
The photo above shows the main altar
and a brick wall to the right. The doorway in the wall has pieces
of the communion rail stored there, along with pieces of the
broken altar. In the new church in the new town of Oradour-sur-Glane,
there is a little room in this space; the new church is modeled
after the old one. It appears that there is a room behind the
brick wall, but the access to it was closed off when I visited.
The photo below shows the center panel
of the front of the altar. It appears to have one bullet hole
in the center and one on each side. According to the official
story, SS soldiers entered the church and fired hundreds of bullets,
aiming low so as to hit the children.
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