PARIS – French politicians of all political persuasions condemned Holocaust-denying graffiti scratching a wall in the village was the site of France’s biggest civil war massacre by Nazis during World War II on Saturday .
The rare display of unity, from French President Emmanuel Macron to far left and far-right, underscores the symbolism of Oradour-sur-Glane as an eternal reminder of the horrors of the Nazi occupation of France. The village has remained untouched since the massage.
Macron, who visited the village after his election victory in 2017, promised that “everything will be done” to catch those who escaped the wall at the entrance to the Center for Remembrance.
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Officials in Oradour-Sur-Glane, near Limoges in central France, threw a tarp to cover the graffiti that was discovered Friday. The word “Lie” was scratched on the wall, along with other graffiti, according to the regional paper Le Populaire du Center. The inscription “Martyr Village” was crossed.
The newspaper Le Figaro quoted the mayor of the village, Philippe Lacroix, as saying that the name of a well-known Holocaust denier was inscribed on the wall.
“Shame on those who did this,” tweeted Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti. “Everything will be done to find and judge those who have committed these sacred actions.”
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin declared the ‘abject filth’ in a tweet from Friday night. Prime Minister Jean Castex said the graffiti “erases the memory of our martyrs.”
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen tweeted that “it is time once and for all … to stop the return of these acts that are hurting us all.”
Troops from the fanatical SS “Das Reich” department were responsible for the murder of 642 villagers on June 10, 1944, and brought them into barns and a church and set the city on fire. While a new village has been built, the ruins of the old city have been preserved as a testimony to Nazi horrors.
The massacre took place four days after the Allied allies in Normandy. It was suspected that they were ordered in compensation for the abduction of a German soldier by the French resistance.
