highway. Particularly poignant is the
rusted-out Peugeot Model 202 that
belonged to the town’s doctor, Emile
Desourteaux, who had arrived as
the villagers were being rounded up.
Over the years, a variety of methods
have been employed to prevent the
good doctor’s car from being eroded
by the elements, including erecting a
Plexiglas covering for a time. The car
will eventually crumble to dust, but
for now it still sits among the ruins as
proof that evil really does exist.
As the possibility of war is once
again at Europe’s door, Oradour-sur-
Glane entreats those who see it to not
look away, but to bear witness. The
hard lesson is that we must face up
to the facts of the people who lived
and died in Oradour-sur-Glane, and
resolve to be ever-vigilant that what
happened in this place 70 years ago
will never happen again, anywhere.
The land of painted caves
Discovered by four young boys playing
in the woods outside of the lovely
French town of Montignac back
in 1940, Lascaux Caves are now a
UNESCO World Heritage Site and
include a museum, complete with
replica cave complex. The
real
cave
began to deteriorate as soon as those
boys breathed on it; from that moment
on, the humidity and foreign bacteria
began to wreak havoc on the walls and
the ancient cave paintings. The cave
complex became famous, even toured
by Picasso (who saw the 18,000-year-
old paintings by hunter-gatherers of
the Paleolithic age, and declared “We
have learned nothing.”). The walls
became covered in a green slime and
the cave was closed to the public in
1964.
A complete and painstaking replica
of the cave was opened for visitors
in 1982, dubbed Lascaux II, after 11
years of work. You will not leave the
place disappointed for not seeing the
original – these paintings and the
workmanship are, like the older ones,
nothing less than epic.
Photography: Karmel Schreyer
