Sunday 25 April 2010

Les Braves Soldats de 212 Rue Saint Maur

Alongside the lilac bushes and rusting bicycles of an unpolished Parisian courtyard is something much more surprising - a mysterious memorial plaque commemorating soldier victims of the First World War. Who put it here though and why?

The stretch of the Rue Saint Maur which cuts across the 10th arrondissement towards the Hopital Saint Louis is the domain of the worker. Apart from two or three solid Haussmannian properties, these are simple buildings with long, twisting courtyards spread out behind. The number 212 is a typical example.

Walk through the Porte Cochère and you enter a pastoral picture-book scene of 19th century Paris (if you can overlook the parked cars!). Here wispy bushes of lilac and fig push up against the crumbling stone walls and glass verandas of small workshops. Outside, rusting signposts give clues to the trades of previous owners.

Although several of these are now used by photographers or architects, the banging and whirring sounds from others show that some of these units are still used for manufacturing. Others sit empty, awaiting renovation into edgy, urban office space or loft-style apartment units.

The courtyard is dusty and decomposing, with an ivy-clad electricity substation to one side, but this is clearly an area undergoing gradual gentrification. How does it differ then from the place in 1914 that 25 men left and never returned to? Physically, the environment has not changed - the men could return today and still find their home or place of work. The changes have been more of a social nature, and it is surely the social balance at the time which helped to get the memorial plaque put in place.

What is the message on the plaque? “Ce marbre a été érigé par souscription des locataires et amis sous le patronage des propriétaires” A clear difference here is made between the locataires (those renting) and the propriétaires (the owners). The suggestion therefore is that the men killed were primarily workers, either living here in rented properties or working in the manufacturing units in the courtyard, and that the property and workshop owners felt compelled to commemorate the heavy price that had been paid by their men during the conflict.

What is not clear though is why this was done here and not elsewhere. Across Paris there must have been thousands of similar situations, but I have never seen such a plaque as this before. Does this suggest that here at least relations between the classes were exemplary? Regularly polished by the concierge who lives alongside, it remains in place today as an important reminder of sacrifices past. Perhaps she asks herself if such a monument would be put up here today.

5 comments:

Owen said...

That is indeed an unusual monument... I've never seen one quite like it, and I love to look at all things related to the history of the "Great War"... Thanks for sharing this...

It reminds me of a story I saw about a beautiful property near Falmouth in England, Heligan Gardens. They fell into disrepair after WWI because quite a few members of the gardening staff went off to volunteer for WWI, and never came home. The gardens have been restored only recently to something like their former splendor...

Cergie said...

Ce sont des initiatives de particuliers donc individuelles. C'est pourquoi elles sont uniques.
La différence entre "propriétaire" et "locataire", on nous la faisait sentir, du moins les enfants des autres nous la faisaient sentir mais ils n'avaient rien inventé, les enfants ne font que répéter, lorsque nous avions loué un pavillon à Eragny : nous étions les seuls locataires de la placette (7 pavillons) ; nos propriétaires avaient été mutés en Belgique.
Cette histoire de plaque me rappelle qu'en face du musée Edith Piaf il y en a une sur l'immeuble qu'habitent mon fils et son amie : qchose du style : "les habitants en face du musée". On connait toujours quelqu'un qui...
Connais tu la fameuse histoire de l'homme qui a vu l'homme qui a vu l'ours ?

Cergie said...

Mon restaurateur de meuble des Vosges m'a envoyé chercher une baguette en laiton dans un endroit de ce genre à Paris, où on trouve de la quincaillerie vraiment spécialisée. C'était dans une arrière cour,rue du faubourg St Antoine si mes souvenirs sont exacts.

Starman said...

I think that bike has seen better days.

LaLi said...

Never seen such a thing.

But it is not surprising that so many men from a single housing unit did not make it back from WWI, where men were used as cannon fooder.

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