Oradour-sur-Glane 2014 (by kerouac2)

[lagatta]

Yes, Pol Pot died in his bed.

The Japanese (or German) car thing is a bit ridiculous, considering that Henry Ford was among the worst Hitler symps anywhere at the time, along with Edward and the woman he loved...

rarehistoricalphotos.com/henry-ford-receiving-grand-cross-german-eagle-nazi-officials-1938/

www.cbc.ca/passionateeye/episodes/nazi-king

Mossie, there is no question but that Britain was on the right side in the Second World War, but not only Britain but also the embattled Netherlands could be pretty nasty as colonial powers.

To say nothing of the horrors Belgium perpetrated in the Congo.

Canada seems like a relatively peaceful place, but there was certainly a lot of mistreatment of the Indigenous populations...

The other problem with "forever" is that if these places aren't kept up, they will crumble.

[Deleted]

Indeed, but just imagine if we were still promoting the battle sites of the 100 Years war to make sure that Great Britain and France will never feel comfortable with each other.

[lagatta]

Yes, and I'm thrilled that people commute to Strasbourg from the German bank of the Rhine.

Those Oradour ruins are much more solid than things built later on, but they'll eventually crumble. They've had to do renovation work on Nazi camps, which seems odd.

[Deleted]

Oradour has had "consolidation" work as well to keep it from crumbling completely.

[questa]

Will they still be consolidating in 100 years time or building memorials to terrible things that have not happened yet but still to come?

[lagatta]

Well, we've seen a monument to the killing fields in Cambodia here and there are similar ones to the Rwandan genocide, and the mass killings in the former Yugoslavia.

It would be nicer to stop it, but that would take other means. At least for the time being, things are peaceful in Kerouac's home turf, where the fields had been soaked in blood at least since the 1870s Franco-Prussian war and probably before that.

[Leburta]

Very moving photos and report, Kerouac. I suppose we need to see these things to honor the innocent and to do our best to keep these things from happening again. But human beings can be truly evil.

[kerouac2]

Today being the 80th anniverary of the massacre, French president Emmanuel Macron is torturing German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier during an official commemoration, being broadcast live on television. My god, the poor man wasn't even born until 1956, but he is being spared nothing as they walk through the ruins.

As important as it is for everyone to see this, especially if they are French or German, I would be happy if it was done more discreetly, instead of being a show.