“It has something of Oradour-sur-Glane”: Olivier Faure compares Gironde wildfires with martyred village

Olivier Faure stood in the ashes of Le Porge and reached for one of France’s most painful historical references. “I don’t know whether one should dare make this comparison, but it has something of Oradour-sur-Glane, with these houses completely burned,” the Socialist Party leader said during a visit to Gironde.

Faure described the scene as “a kind of vision of horror,” pointing to destroyed homes, “these charred cars” and “kilometres of pine trees that are black.” He also stressed that there had been no victims, while saying the completely destroyed houses conveyed the violence of the fire.

“

I don’t know whether one should dare make this comparison, but it has something of Oradour-sur-Glane, with these houses completely burned.

Oradour-sur-Glane, in Haute-Vienne, was burned by the SS Das Reich division on June 10, 1944, after hundreds of residents were executed. A total of 643 civilians were killed, making it one of the largest Nazi massacres in Western Europe. The article presents the comparison as hazardous, since the destruction at Le Porge came from a wildfire rather than a massacre.

“

A kind of vision of horror.

The scale of the fire nevertheless remains considerable. Le Porge, a village of about 3,500 people, lost more homes than any other community affected by the blaze, with more than 180 buildings among roughly 250 destroyed or damaged. The fire began in Saumos on July 22, covered about 42,000 hectares and was brought under control on August 1. Authorities described it as an unprecedented area burned in France since 1949.

Faure’s visit came five days after he announced his candidacy for the left-wing primary. He has said he wants to promote “a fairer France” and “rebuild everything” after what he calls 10 years of “immense waste.” The primary is scheduled for October 9-10 and 16-17, with Raphaël Glucksmann, Jérôme Guedj, Philippe Brun, Emmanuel Maurel and Ségolène Royal also named as contenders. The comparison also recalls controversy over remarks by journalist Jean-Michel Aphatie, which France’s audiovisual regulator said could be seen as relativizing Nazism.

“

There were fortunately no victims, but one can imagine the violence of the fire with the houses completely destroyed.