Rue de la Roquette

By Thirza Vallois

Paris Kiosque - April 2000 - Volume 7, Number 4
Copyright (c) 2000 Thirza Vallois - used with permission
Excerpted from "Around and About Paris"

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Rue de la Roquette is not of Haussmann's making, but he successfully integrated it into his modern street network, making it run through the present Place Léon Blum, more or less at right angles with Boulevard Voltaire. Back in the 17th century this was a rural road leading to a convent by the same name. Whether the name was derived from a yellow flower called rochette that grew on the estate or from the name of a previous landlord, Monsieur Rocquet, is not known for sure. What is known, however, is that the size of the domain was spectacular by today's standards, extending roughly as far as the present rue du Chemin-Vert, rue de la Folie-Regnault, rue Mercoeur and rue Popincourt. The main buildings of the convent were situated around the present rue Pache (second to the left from Place Léon Blum). Its destiny followed the same pattern as many other such domains, beginning as private property, then once in decline being passed on to a religious institution, and later abolished by the French Revolution. In earlier times, it was often the reverse, when religious institutions, anxious to increase their revenue, sold their domains into secular hands.

In the 19th century rue de la Roquette became the `sinister way' taken by the hearse and the funeral processions heading for the new cemetery of Père Lachaise in eastern Paris, jolting uphill towards Boulevard Ménilmontant. In Paric Vécu Léon Daudet described it as `the principal sorrowful way of Paris, the road of funnerals'. He was speaking from personal experience, having accompanied the body of his father, Alphonse Daudet, along this route in December 1897 `a pas lents, (mon) chapeau à la main.' (`At a slow pace, hat in hand'.) The Dreyfus Case had only just begun, which explains why both Emile Zola, later to write the famouse article J'accuse, in defence of Dreyfus, and Drumont, author of the rabidly anti-Semitic La France juive, attended the funeral, each holding on of the cordons of the catafalque; Zola, however, was on the left, Drumont on the right. Léon Daudet espoused Drumont's theories and became one of the founders of L'Action Française, the fanatically anti-Semitic movement that led logically to the persecution of the Jews during the last war. For the time being he was absorbed with the death of his father and with the funeral, writing, `As to the participation and emotion of an immense multitude, no funeral, not even that of Victor Hugo, surpassed the funeral of Alphonse Daudet.' In November 1923 he passed along the same morbid route beside the coffin of his son Philippe, who had been involved with the Anarchists and died in mysterious circumstances.

At that time two ghastly prisons stood on opposite sides of the street, a little further up: the women's prison, La Petite-Roquette, built in 1836 on the site of the present no. 143, and the men's prison, La Grande-Roquette, eriected the following year on the site of no. 168. Every now and then the guillotine would make an ephemeral appearance in front of the men's prison - 41 times between 1840 and 1880. Among the victims were also a couple of women from across the street, the last of whom was executed on the snowy dawn of 6 February 1946. Jules Vallès, one of the heroes of the Commune, gave a spine-chilling description of the last moments of the prisoner:

La grosse porte de la prison roule sur ses gonds. C'est le moment terrible. C'est à ce moment que La Pommeraye qui avait été jusqu'alors impassible, pâlit: l'oeil devint vitreux, les jambes fléchissent. L'échafaud est dédout, à vingt pas en avant sur la place.

The big door of the prison rolls on its hinges. This is the terrible moment. It is at this moment that La Pommeraye, who up until now has been impassive, turns pale: his eyes are glazed, his legs sag. The scaffold is standing, twenty steps ahead, on the square.

A contemporary who was present at one of those public executions described the vociferous delight of the `teeming, screaming, drunk, revolting' mob. Unlike Alphonse Daudet, all that he wretched guillotined prisoners received by way of homage was the discreet mention on their death certificates, `died on rue de la Roquette, no 168'. The men's prison was torn down in 1900, the women's only in the 1970s. An attractive garden now replaces it, a welcome patch of greenery in a busy neighbourhood, oblivious to the misery of the past.

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Thirza Vallois brings Paris to life in a way that enthralls her readers and provides them with a detailed knowledge of the city which exceeds that of most Parisians, while her fast moving style disguises a depth of historical fact that is normally only found in academic tomes. Writer William Boyd wrote in The Spectator: "I think we can safely toss all other Paris guidebooks aside....There can be no higher praise than when I say they come close to the world's greatest guidebook, J. Link's "Venice for Pleasure" and they should soon achieve similar legendary status." The French Ambassador to the UK wrote: "I am convinced that this guide will constitute from now on, for the British lovers of Paris, a reference book which will have the success it deserves." Around and About Paris may be ordered online here.

A long time resident of Paris, she currently lives just three hours outside of Paris in London, and may be contacted via thirzavallois@iliadbooks.demon.co.uk.

Editor's Note: Dear Readers, while our writers are always delighted to hear and to receive comments, both about their columns in the The Paris Kiosque, as well as your experiences in Paris, they are unable to answer any requests for travel information. Thank you for your understanding.