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French History
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 11/01/2008, 9:33
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Sunday Driver
 
Joined on 07/10/2005
Deux Sevres (79)
Posts 2,752
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 Jura wrote: | |
Northender, your 'vaulting' over the fence brings to mind our own experience of visiting the village. My partner visited there in 1998, pre the price charging museum, and remembers a plaque stating that the village was to be available to the public free of charge to remain as a constant reminder to future generations as to what happened there. When we visited there in 2003 the museum was in place; the village itself is free to visit however the administration of the museum have cannily worked it so that it is almost impossible to access the village without paying to go through the museum first.
We did the back-entrance 'vault' ourselves on this occasion. I don't believe that money should be made out of this horrific incident in recent history. Don't be ashamed, it was the original intention that this village be accessed for free and by all.
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Northender's improper entry to this solemn place of rememberance came about because it was officially closed at the time. His admittance of shame is a mark of the respect he has for the place.
In your case, the objective was to get in without paying. Clearly more important to you than showing respect.....![Angry [:@]](/cs/images/emotions/angry.gif)
Waddya mean it's only Saturday......
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11/01/2008, 9:39
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Scooby
Joined on 25/09/2007
Peak District
Posts 244
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When we went it was during the winter when the main museum was closed. We just walked into the village - there were no locked gates or paypoints etc as I recall.
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11/01/2008, 10:10
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lebois
Joined on 25/09/2007
Perigord
Posts 104
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| Scooby wrote: | When we went it was during the winter when the main museum was closed. We just walked into the village - there were no locked gates or paypoints etc as I recall.
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Yes that is right, there are gates at the back which are open all year round to allow visitors to pay their respects.
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11/01/2008, 19:37
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Northender
Joined on 24/01/2007
NW England/Lot
Posts 47
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I think Sunday Driver is being a little hard on Jura.
Surely the point Jura was trying to make was that the people who operate the museum at Oradour had intentionally made it difficult for people to access the village without first paying to visit the museum.
Commercialism should not be a consideration and funding for maintenance of the site should come from the public purse , the same as they do for the other war memorials.
I think everyone would agree that the site should be regarded as a war memorial to all those innocent men , women and children who lost their lives and act as a reminder to future generations the horrors that wars create.
To this end it should be free , encouraging people to visit and experience what I and others have experienced.
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11/01/2008, 20:00
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Boiling a frog
Joined on 06/09/2004
Charente 16
Posts 536
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Accessing the site is easy,all one does is enter the main building and walk past the museum entrance to access the site ,which is free.
Boiling a frog
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11/01/2008, 23:30
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Tresco
Joined on 23/08/2004
Charente Maritime.
Posts 4,635
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I can't understand all this jumping over walls or entering through any other building.
People are making it sound as though the village and the museum are somehow 'joined'.
They aren't.
I was there on the 28th of December, and walked straight in through the gate. I never even saw the museum.
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21/01/2008, 19:09
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Jura
Joined on 28/11/2005
Posts 714
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We were there in August 2003 and there was no way you could gain access to the village without first paying and going through the museum. How on earth could you NEVER see the museum unless you ignored it's presence?
I just suspect they have changed the conditions of access, most probably due to complaints, since we were there. We live right near the Rivesaltes camp near Perpignan, where the French willingly co-operated with the Nazi's and detained and transported Jews from France to Poland. We have travelled throughout Europe and even visited Auschwitz...we did not need to view yet more one more museum that day in 2003. We wanted to see the village.
Strangely, at about sunset (6.pm) that day a museum administrator walked about the village telling us 'stragglers' to leave the village as it was 'closing time'. My husband was still taking photographs of the square and was approached by this man and was told to leave. He told us the place was officially closed for the day.
When my husband was previously there in 1998 a plaque that was in place there officially stated that the village was to be made available, free of charge and free of restriction, to all generations forever more in memory of what happened there. Those actually were the words and express wishes of Gen. Charles de Gaulle all those years ago. It was not there when we visited there in 2003. But the museum was.
That is why some people 'hop the fence'.
Sunday Driver: Why does one need to pay money in order to pay one's respects? The village is where it all happened...we all know where the entrance fees go. Into pockets.
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29/01/2008, 14:50
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fieldwalker
Joined on 29/01/2008
Posts 2
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Entry to the village is accessible via the cemetery, which also houses the bunker containing artifacts of the massacre. Any cost associated with entry are for the museum, not for visits to the village.
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France Forum » French Culture » French History » Oradour sur Glane
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