About a year and a half ago, I made post, which I today would like to improve. It concerned the placement in Paris of the guillotine during the last half of the 19th century. The use of the guillotine is of course very much linked to the French Revolution, but it was still the tool for death penalties in France until – in my opinion – too recently.
First, maybe a little bit of history: Before getting into use, the guillotine was tested, first on sheep and calves, in April 1792 at Cour du Commerce Saint-André (see previous post) and later also on some human corpses. The first execution took place later the same month at Place de Grève, now the Place Hôtel de Ville, just in front of the Town Hall (where now is the ice rink, see post last Monday). The victim was a common burglar.
Only then started the revolutionary madness which fortunately calmed down around 1794. The most famous place for the executions is of course the present Place de la Concorde (then Place de la Révolution – see previous posts), where King, Queen and some other prominent personalities lost their heads. However, the guillotine was for such events displaced from its first more permanent place, at the Carrousel, just in front of the then still existing Tuileries Palace (see previous posts). The Revolution executions continued then at Place Saint-Antoine (now Place de la Bastille – see previous posts) and especially close to Place du Trône-Renversé (now Place de la Nation – see previous posts).
After these exited years, executions – fortunately fewer – took again place in front of the Town Hall until 1832 when they were transferred to what was then the Paris border, today Place Saint-Jacques in the Montparnasse area.
As from 1851, the place for the executions became the prison la Roquette until it was demolished and then, until the end, at the still existing Santé Prison. The last Paris execution took place 1972 (and the very last one in Marseille in 1977). Capital punishment was officially - and I would add fortunately – at last abolished by France in 1981.
What I will show today (again, and in a bit modified way) is where the guillotine stood for executions between 1851 and 1899. Some granite stones (example on the top picture) in the pavement can be found on a street called Rue Croix-Faubin (11th arrdt.). The stones were put there to support the guillotine. Just behind these stones you could find the Grande Roquette prison, built 1836 and demolished 1900 (replaced by apartment buildings). This was then where death sentenced prisoners were kept and also prisoners awaiting their deportation to the “bagnes” (overseas convict-prisons). 
When needed (fortunately not every day), the guillotine was brought from its close-by storage place, 60 bis, rue de la Folie-Regnault, the small building - since then slightly modified - you can see on the below patchwork. 
On the opposite side of Rue de la Roquette was another contemporary prison building, the Petite Roquette, originally used for young, later for female, delinquents – and during WW II for some 4000 members of the Resistance Movements. This prison stood there until 1974, when it was replaced by a park. All that remains from the prison is the entrance gate. 
It's estimated that maybe upto 40.000 people were guillotined during the French Revolution, however only a smaller part in Paris. Frightening is to know that probably as many were vicitms of the Nazi use of the guillotine during the 30's and 40's. Today, no country seems to use the guillotine - but unfortunately other tools have replaced.
First, maybe a little bit of history: Before getting into use, the guillotine was tested, first on sheep and calves, in April 1792 at Cour du Commerce Saint-André (see previous post) and later also on some human corpses. The first execution took place later the same month at Place de Grève, now the Place Hôtel de Ville, just in front of the Town Hall (where now is the ice rink, see post last Monday). The victim was a common burglar.
Only then started the revolutionary madness which fortunately calmed down around 1794. The most famous place for the executions is of course the present Place de la Concorde (then Place de la Révolution – see previous posts), where King, Queen and some other prominent personalities lost their heads. However, the guillotine was for such events displaced from its first more permanent place, at the Carrousel, just in front of the then still existing Tuileries Palace (see previous posts). The Revolution executions continued then at Place Saint-Antoine (now Place de la Bastille – see previous posts) and especially close to Place du Trône-Renversé (now Place de la Nation – see previous posts).
After these exited years, executions – fortunately fewer – took again place in front of the Town Hall until 1832 when they were transferred to what was then the Paris border, today Place Saint-Jacques in the Montparnasse area.
As from 1851, the place for the executions became the prison la Roquette until it was demolished and then, until the end, at the still existing Santé Prison. The last Paris execution took place 1972 (and the very last one in Marseille in 1977). Capital punishment was officially - and I would add fortunately – at last abolished by France in 1981.
What I will show today (again, and in a bit modified way) is where the guillotine stood for executions between 1851 and 1899. Some granite stones (example on the top picture) in the pavement can be found on a street called Rue Croix-Faubin (11th arrdt.). The stones were put there to support the guillotine. Just behind these stones you could find the Grande Roquette prison, built 1836 and demolished 1900 (replaced by apartment buildings). This was then where death sentenced prisoners were kept and also prisoners awaiting their deportation to the “bagnes” (overseas convict-prisons). When needed (fortunately not every day), the guillotine was brought from its close-by storage place, 60 bis, rue de la Folie-Regnault, the small building - since then slightly modified - you can see on the below patchwork. On the opposite side of Rue de la Roquette was another contemporary prison building, the Petite Roquette, originally used for young, later for female, delinquents – and during WW II for some 4000 members of the Resistance Movements. This prison stood there until 1974, when it was replaced by a park. All that remains from the prison is the entrance gate. It's estimated that maybe upto 40.000 people were guillotined during the French Revolution, however only a smaller part in Paris. Frightening is to know that probably as many were vicitms of the Nazi use of the guillotine during the 30's and 40's. Today, no country seems to use the guillotine - but unfortunately other tools have replaced.
Posts
