The massacre that German soldiers caused in 1944 in Oradour, France, has remained unpunished in the Federal Republic to this day. Andrea Erkenbrecher has meticulously researched why politics and the judiciary let the war criminals get away.
On June 10, 1944, 150 soldiers from the 2nd SS Panzer Division “Das Reich” occupied the village of Oradour-sur-Glane in the French department of Haute-Vienne. The soldiers combed the village and rounded up the residents in the market square. The soldiers separated the men from the women and children – including many children from nearby villages who attended one of the four local schools. The men were divided into four groups and taken to different buildings. At a signal from the company commander, soldiers opened fire on the men in all four buildings. Those who were still alive were shot at close range, the bodies were covered with combustible material and set on fire.