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Survivor Hébras (center) in 2013 with the then Federal President Gauck (right) and the former French head of state Hollande.
Photo: Philippe Wojazer/ dpa
The last survivor of the SS massacre in the French town of Oradour-sur-Glane is dead. Robert Hébras died on Saturday morning at the age of 97, the National Memorial Association said on behalf of the family and the mayor.
Hébras was considered a national hero by many in France.
On June 10, 1944, soldiers from a Waffen SS Panzer regiment wiped out the village in central France within a few hours.
They locked women and children in a church and set it on fire.
The men were shot.
643 people lost their lives.
Only a few residents managed to escape.
The site became a symbol of Nazi war crimes in occupied France.
A memorial center was set up in 1999 in the destroyed village northwest of Limoges, the ruins of which remain.
French President Emmanuel Macron awarded Hébras the national order of merit a year ago.
Hébras fought for freedom and defended France's values, Macron said.
He also contributed to the Franco-German peace.
Among other things, the survivor had campaigned for German-French youth encounters.
sbo/dpa