#Story
The Marcourt massacre
In Marcourt, the memory of the first liberation of the Ardennes was overshadowed by tragic events. The bereaved village did not celebrate its new-found freedom as it did elsewhere. The massacre committed by the Nazis the day before left a deep impression.
On September 8, 1944, as liberation by the American army drew near, two German armored vehicles advanced toward Marcourt via the national road from La Roche-en-Ardenne. Resistance fighters, positioned in ambush at the crossroads with orders to protect the village, destroyed the first vehicle with an anti-tank weapon and damaged the second. The Nazi repression that followed the next day left indelible scars.
On September 9, 1944, the Nazis rounded up about thirty people at random in the village. They isolated them in a house and singled out eleven individuals. These eleven were locked in a barn. The executioners shot the legs of the victims to prevent escape and set the building on fire. Only two survivors, who later disappeared without a trace, managed to escape.
This tragedy left numerous families grieving the loss of their loved ones. Marcourt was liberated on September 10, 1944 by the American army which discovered the devastation, along with around thirty burned houses.
Today, the small village has transformed and is a thriving community. The events of September 1944 are commemorated annually. The memory of the victims is preserved in the Chapel of Martyrs, erected on the site of the barn, located on the street now called ‘Rue des Martyrs.’ In the cemetery behind the church, a mass grave gathers the remains of the deceased.