Hand-in-hand with one of the few survivors, German president joins Hollande in historic visit to French ghost village where Nazis massacred 642

Oradour-sur-Glane has lain untouched since June 10 1944

It was on this day Nazi soldiers stormed town and massacred residents



M en rounded up and shot - women herded into church and burned alive

Germany's president Joachim Gauck made a pilgrimage to town today

The president of Germany today became the first leader from the country to visit a French 'ghost village' where Nazi soldiers murdered 642 civilians including 205 children.



The inhabitants of Oradour-sur-Glane, near Limoges, were massacred by the SS and all their homes and businesses were destroyed on June 10 1944.



In a sign of post-war unity, Joachim Gauck said he felt a ‘mixture of gratitude and humility’ as he visited the site with his French counterpart, Francois Hollande.



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Moving: Presidents Francois Hollande of France, left, and Joachim Gauck of Germany, right, today visited the ruined village of Oradour-sur-Glane with Robert Hebras, centre, a survivor of the 1944 massacre there

Close: Mr Gauck is the only German leader ever to visit the village, which was destroyed by the Nazis

Tribute: The two leaders met with two of the three remaining survivors of the horrific killings

Mr Gauck, Mr Hollande and Mr Hebras embrace after today's ceremony

The statesman added: ‘The Germany that I have the honour of representing is a different Germany from the one that haunts memories.’

In return, Mr Hollande said: ‘You have made the choice to visit - this is a tribute to you, and at the same time it forces us, once the past has been acknowledged, to go boldly into the future.’



Mr Hollande and Mr Gauck were today accompanied by two of only three living survivors of the Oradour massacre - Robert Hebras, 88, and Jean-Marcel Darthout.



Mr Hebras, who was 19 at the time, hid under the corpses of others who were machine-gunned.

Remains of homes in Oradour -sur-Glane, where inhabitants were massacred and all homes and businesses destroyed by Nazis 70 years ago

Here in this ghost town near Limoges, France, it is still June 10 1944 - the day it was stormed by the dreaded S.S.

Today Oradour exists as a massive memorial - a chilling time capsule where the burned out homes remain exactly as they were on the day they were torched, and even the car of the mayor still lies rusting in the main street The inside of the Church in Oradour-sur-Glane. Only six villagers survived the attack Two burned cars have been left for almost 70 years since the massacre 'I was consumed by hatred and vengeance for a long time,' he said, adding that Mr Gauck's visit came at an opportune time.

'Any earlier would have been too soon. But now we must reconcile with the Germans.' During the massacre, the men were rounded up and shot in barns, the women were herded into the local church which was set ablaze with hand grenades.

Today Oradour exists as a massive memorial - a chilling time capsule where the burned out homes remain exactly as they were on the day they were torched, and even the car of the mayor still lies rusting in the main street.

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German soldiers killed all 642 inhabitants, including children. The men were rounded up and shot in barns, the women were herded into the local church which was set ablaze with hand grenades

It is thought Oradour was destroyed because of resistance attacks on the division as it moved north. But another theory is that the booty - massive amounts of gold - of Das Reich officers was stolen and they believed the peasants of the village had it The French and German presidents visited the village square where residents were rounded up Joachim Gauck said 'The Germany I have the honour of representing is a different Germany from the one that haunts memories' Veterans of the Das Reich division - members of which had spent three years murdering civilians on the Russian front - were moving up to the Normandy battlefields to try to counter the Allied invasion forces when they detoured into the sleepy hamlet which had existed for 1,000 years.

It is thought Oradour was destroyed because of resistance attacks on the division as it moved north. But another theory is that the booty - massive amounts of gold - of Das Reich officers was stolen and they believed the peasants of the village had it. Ironically, many of the soldiers who took part in the massacre were from the Alsace region - the disputed borderland that has changed hands many times between France and Germany down the centuries .



The church at the martyr village where women and children were locked up and intentionally set on fire by a SS division. Some 500 burned to death here

Homes and business were all torched by S.S officers, with just shells remaining

Residents were rounded up by German soldiers ostensibly to have their identity papers checked

But the women and children were then locked up in the church while the men were taken to a barn where machine guns awaited

For many years the relatives of victims had opposed any homage to Oradour by a German leader

For many years the relatives of victims had opposed any homage to Oradour by a German leader.

The two presidents visited the village square where the residents were rounded up by German soldiers ostensibly to have their identity papers checked.

The women and children were then locked up in the church while the men were taken to a barn where machine guns awaited.



Today the town serves as an eerie reminder of the appalling brutality of war, wreaked on the lives of the innocent, and attracts thousands of visitors each year

The entrance of the village entrance. The two presidents are due to visit the village square where the residents were rounded up, unaware of the impending bloody massacre which awaited them