Comparison between the Doctor's car at Oradour-sur-Glane in 1998, 2010, 2018 and 2024
The Doctor's car in June 1998
The Doctor's car in June 2010
The Doctor's car in October 2018
The Doctor's car in June 2024
The top photograph was taken in June 1998, the next in June 2010, the next in October 2018 and the bottom one in June 2024 (on the 80th anniversary). As can be clearly seen, the car is in a better state of preservation in the second picture than in the first. The steering wheel and the sill under the doors have both appeared between 1998 and 2010. When we get to 2018, the steering wheel has disappeared again and the whole car is looking more aged and decrepit. For example the repaired sill has become detached from the rear wheel arch and part of the arch has slumped down over the wheel. This process is inevitable, for as the artefacts in the village decay, they will have to be restored, otherwise there will soon be nothing left to look at. If the restoration is done sensitively and it does seem to be done so here, then I think it enhances the quality of the memorial process. The village today looks like it was destroyed recently and so visitors can engage with it more readily than if it were a total ruin which happened a long way back in time. See Remembering the past on this website and also the sign at the entrance to the ruins exhorting us all to "Remember!" The most recent photo, taken on the 80th anniversary, shows the current attempt at slowing the ravages of time by covering the entire car with a clear, waxy preservative. This material has dried to form a hard, non-porous surface and has the effect of making the car look wet, even though it is quite dry.
© Michael Williams: 10 March 2000, page last updated
05 September 2024.