The place he chose to move to was the small village of Oradour‑sur‑Glane. Despite the occupation, it was remarkably free from the concentration of soldiers that were in Paris. There, he met a soft‑spoken French girl named Monique. She reminded him of Lilian because of her passion to liberate France from the Germans. As the days went by, he found himself loving her, as he had never loved before. She seemed to kindle the fire back in his heart to stand up against the Germans. When it was possible, they would sneak away and go for long walks and he would tell her of his childhood in Texas. She even convinced him to visit the small church in the village on Sundays.
After living in Oradour for three months, thanks to Monique he fully regained his passion to rid France of the Nazis. He therefore decided that he would return to Paris to keep in contact with the Resistance in the city.
On his return from Paris three days later, to his horror he found that the Germans had killed every person they could find in the tiny village of Oradour. A total of 642 people had been slaughtered, including Monique. The Nazis were avenging the capture of an SS officer by the Resistance. An unconfirmed rumor said he was executed in Oradour.
A witness said the SS encircled the village, divided the men into five or six groups, and then herded them into barns. The women and children were locked in the church building. The men were shot first, then the churches were set on fire. When the women and children tried to escape, they were shot dead. At 6:00 that evening the Germans stopped a train, arrested and shot all those who were heading for Oradour.
News of this sickened Jerry beyond words. It was as though the bitterness of life had struck a deathblow to his very soul. He withdrew into a deep anger both at the Nazis, and at God who had allowed them to cause such suffering.
When he went back to Paris, he heard through the BBC, that in Rome the Gestapo had indiscriminately arrested two Italian priests, a number of Jews, some women and two 14‑year old boys, and mercilessly shot them to death. They were killed in reprisal for a bomb attack that had slain 33 German policemen. Hitler had demanded that 50 Italians be executed for each German that died, but German officials in Italy reduced the ratio.
To be continued.
