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Memorial Massacre Maillé

In Maillé cemetery, a monument bearing the names of 124 victims recalls the mass murder by the SS of the village's civilians in 1944.

On the morning of 25 August 1944, the village was surrounded by German troops. A group of SS entered the village and killed all the people and animals they came across and set fire to their houses. The village was completely destroyed and a total of 124 out of 500 villagers died that day. 44 of them were children.

The reason for the massacre is not entirely clear but may have been related to the murder of 2 German officers by the resistance. After the Oradour-sur-Glane Massacre, this was the deadliest massacre of French civilians during the German occupation.

In the village, pictures of the residents of that time have been placed in front of some houses.

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Source

  • Text: TracesOfWar
  • Photos: Koos Winkelman

Related books

Battle of the Bulge 44-45
Encyclopedia of the Third Reich

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