I watched something fascinating last night about Richard Oakes and Alcatraz occupation in 1969 til 1971 ....and the tragedy of Oradour-Sur-Glane in 1944
I knew that Alcatraz had been invaded after it had been closed down as a prison but til last night I didn't really know much about the background of why and who did it. What struck me most is that he had been murdered in 1972 and that the man accused was aquitted, which when you look into Richard's life and who he was, and his subsequent death raised alot of questions that have never been answered.
Richard Oakes, the famous Mohawk Native American activist, is world renown for leading the unused Alcatraz prison occupation in the San Francisco Bay at the end of the 1960s. Richard is well-credited…
sfsustudentcenter.com
www.nps.gov
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On June 10, 1944....a few days after D-Day. A small town called Oradour-Sur-Glane suffered possibly the worst wartime war crime in all WW2. The town was in Vichy controlled France, the Vichy were collaborating with the Germans and controlled a significant amount of France. They were harsh on the population but generally not in the thick of the fighting.
Right after D-Day a unit belonging to the SS Panzer Division entered the town on their way north to fight the Allies. What happened next was truly horrific. The Commander of this unit, Adolf Diekmann, ordered his men to round up all of the men in the town and take them in groups into barns. They were gunned down, the buildings set on fire burning many alive. He then ordered his men to round up all the women and children, they were herded into the town church. Once there, Diekmann ordered grenades to be thrown into the building. As churches have very thick walls, the explosions was contained apart from blowing out the windows. He then had his men pile wood upon those inside and set it ablaze. A total of over 640 townsfolk perished. Just 7 survived. The last survivor died in 1988.
Unusually, Diekmann's superiors were appauled by the behaviour and cited him and his men for Court Martial....the only time that it ever happened. However after spending a night in the smoking ruins of the town, Diekmann and his men continued northwards, faced the Allies and all but a handful were killed in action, including Diekmann.
In 1953, the survivors from the unit were put on trial for War Crimes. Three were sentenced to death, the rest were given jail time of tween 8 and 12 years. No sentences were actually carried out.
Charles De Gaulle ordered that a new town would be built alongside the ruins of Oradour-Sur-Glane and that those ruins would be kept and take care of as a permanent reminder and memorial to those who were murdered there.
Having been to Oradour-Sur-Glane, I knew the story of the tragedy but I had not realised that the German High Command had actually stepped in against their own Panzer Commander....had they not been killed by the Allies and had the Germans not lost the war, Diekmann and his men would likely have been hanged by their own side for what they did. When you consider what other Panzer Commanders had done at Malmedy, Wereth etc, for the German High Command to step forward to publicly condemn what happened at Oradour-Sur-Glane is very surprising.
If ever anyone here goes to France, a visit to the town, and to see the ruined buildings, cars and how well tended it is, really brings home the horrors of WW2. The current Mayor of the new town lost 5 members of his own family on June 10, 1944. There is a very large cemetary tween the old and new towns where everyone buried there has the same date of death, most of them are children.
The SS Division Das Reich, destroyed the French village of Oradour-sur-Glane and today it is preserved In a Ruined State.
www.oradour.info
So today I shall be learning and reading more about both Richard Oakes and his taking of Alcatraz....and the backstory and aftermath of Oradour-Sur-Glane. Both have alot of unanswered questions...and both are related in a way....intolerance of another community or people by virtue of their backgrounds.
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