VIII. A PAST THAT IS FORGOTTEN AND INDELIBLE

MENU: 8. A past forgotten and indelible

THE MAY DAY PARADE IN HONOR OF LABOR BEGINS AT  THE 13TH'S CITY HALL

A mayor who believes that "social services are the fortune of the poor" has made this overlooked district a leader in those services, in revegetation and in unstandardized arts. 

A tragic past and the struggles it brought underlie that success. 

# # #

• In the footsteps of "demons"

• Small businesses that Communards would value

• Lost industry's traces

• A district that leans left

• More gifts from City Hall

• The obscure 13th, a place to pitch your tent?

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VIII.1.
In the footsteps of "demons"

VIII.5. A DISTRICT THAT LEANS LEFT

 

THESE STRIKERS ARE DEMONSTRATING AT PLACE D'ITALIE

(MAY 2024)

The ambiance favors them.

• Part of the Social-Democratic City
• Posters and signs
• The May Day parade begins at the 13th's City Hall

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Part of a Social-Democratic City

 

THE CHURCH WHERE THE LAST BATTLE WAS FOUGHT

 

BUILT IN 1855-1858 IN ANTICIPATION OF ANOTHER INSURRECTION, THE SPACE LARGE ENOUGH TO HOLD SOLDIERS, HORSES AND CANNONS MUST BE THE SITE IN THE "WEST"...

--  Gérard Conte, Elements of the History of the Commune in the 13th arrondissement, 1981,

    based on archival records (in French)

Where Sérisier and his men went on to pursue the fight. 

  

The huge space around Notre-Dame de la Gare. 

Toward 5 p.m., the battle lost, they faded into their neighborhood.

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The passage by which the survivors fled

PART OF A SOCIAL-DEMOCRATIC CITY

THE EMPHASIS EXISTS WHEREVER THE LEFT HAS BEEN ELECTED

FOR OR AGAINST / greening and pedestrianizing 500 small streets / Vote March 23

BUDGET 2025 a cantine fee from 0.13€, unchanged for 10 years

BUDGET 2025 / TRANSPORT PASS REIMBURSED FOR UNDER 18s, SENIORS AND HANDICAPPED

A center for city-wide youth opened in the 13th in March, 2025

Interpreting some of them in their own way:

FESTIVAL OF ECOLOGICAL COMBAT, Accent on the ocean!

(Third edition, June 14-21, 2015) 

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Posters and signs

VIII.1. IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF "DEMONS"

 MENU: 8.1. In the footsteps of "demons"

THE STREETS BY WHICH THE COMMUNARDS FLED SHOW HOW THE AREA'S SPECIFICITY IS THE RESULT OF THEIR TIMES 

We start with the passage by which they fled.

Harald Wolff

The huge space behind the church, built to let the army assemble with horses and cannons, must be the place "in the west" where fiery Serizier and his battalion of "demons" fought their last battle (for the context, please click back here, here and here), and the path behind it where survivors fled.

The route:

Adapted from a map of about 1900 / zoom

The first street:

          Photo by Eugène Adjet, 1925 / zoom

N° 204 rue du Château des Rentiers

N° 120: The caretaker of a City-run establishment for seniors chats with a resident.

 In brief

• The church where the last battle was fought 
• The passage by which survivors fled 
• City-run residences for seniors or the handicapped align
• Another residence. Greening. Sculptures. Bikes. Gyms. Gardens
• More social services. More gardens. Local engagement
• Election posters in a real democracy

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The church where the last battle was fought

 

POSTERS AND SIGNS

A HAMMER AND SICKLE NEXT TO A BUS TERMINAL AT THE TOP OF A SLOPE, WHICH ONE SEES ALMOST FROM THE RIVER

July 2025

Back to the area where the Communards fled

(In 2024-2025 unless otherwise said)

 2022, space leading to the series of parks on the site of  a Say sugar refinery

"For public services against the Europe of money"

                                                      Before the legislative elections of June 2024 on the railing of parc de Choisy

"Where do you think you're going if you go right?"

 

Elections 2024, corner rues Sthrau / Nationale

"Racists vote. And you?"  "Where are you on June 9?" (The day of the European elections) "The rich vote. And you?"

November 2024, corner rues Tolbiac / Baudricourt

"The Dignity of Work" / "Movement of Communist Youth of France" / "Solidarity with Palestine"

June 2024, corner  rue de Tolbiac / rue du Château des Rentiers

"Against fascism!" / The force to change it all!" (France Unbowed) / "Animal reign"

Place d'Italie, January 2025

Left: Join the Communist revolution / Middle: Health school transport research justice culture finance leisure information: Public Service Forum  / Right: Billionaires will not defeat us 

February 2025, railing of parc de Choisy

"To change it all, Popular Front" (a left-wing coalition) 

May 2025

"MEETING internationalist revolutionary,"

"They want your retirement and your children... Not a life, not a penny for their wars"

 June 2025, market under the aerial métro

"ACQUIT Anasse Kazib and all supporters of Palestine"

Rue Ponscarme

July 2025

I have lived here 15 years

and have seen no right-wing signs.

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The May Day parade begins at the 13th's City Hall

A WALK THROUGH AN OUTSKIRT THAT USED TO BE CHILLING

"FEW PARISIANS ARE FAMILIAR WITH THE BUTTE-AUX-CAILLES..." 

The Bièvre river

"At last she was out of the horrible cave!...

She found herself in an abandoned cabin, and the icy wind blew through its decrepit walls. A moment later she was outside, in a wasteland that sloped steeply toward the valley of the Bièvre.

The opaque black, the black of an underground tomb, was gone. Far away street lights glimmered. She was free! ...

She had one thought only: get away from the bandits... " 

-- Le Caporal by Lucien Victor-Meunier, 1909, shortened. For more extracts, please click. (In French)

A map of 1900 puts the present in perspective.

      Map of about 1900 / zoom

Quarries (please click and scroll down) protected the small houses by preventing heavy construction, and little has changed.

# # #

On a Tuesday, Friday or Sunday morning, start at the market next to place d'Italie:

Stroll up the slope.

(Rue des Cinq-Diamants)

Imagine being a resident, and knowing from the smoke, cries and firing that the Versaillais soldiers are about to climb up this passage:

The passage Barrault. (The arrow is yellow to show a location, here the enemy's path. Red arrows, as below, show our own path.)

Pass the seat of Les Amis de la Commune de Paris* with its mosaic of the rebels' general... 

*Friends of the Commune of Paris

At a grocery turn right to place de la Commune and its

street art:

Rue de la Butte-aux-Cailles

Place de la Commune

Turn back along the street of restaurants, cafés and very few cars...

The restaurant Le Temps des Cérises, named after a famous song that recalls La Commune

When you come to a playground...

 Paul Verlaine park

"Book nest: take one and put another in its place." 

Turn back to the crossroad. Look at the street you recently strolled up... 

Rue des Cinq Diamants seen from the crossroad.

Turn-of-the-19th-century postcard  

The towers will seem like science fiction 

and you will be sorry to leave this peaceful haven.

End of this section.

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Next section,

VIII.

Lost industry's fine traces

THE PASSAGE BY WHICH SURVIVORS FLED

OF COURSE ALL OF PARIS HAS CHANGED SINCE LA COMMUNE'S TIME, BUT RARELY AS MUCH AS HERE 

A medical Laboratory is on one side of the passage, and a medical center is a few steps away.  

A sculpture and trees soften the aridity of low-cost construction:

Place Souham

The passage ends with a mosaic of the area's métro map:

A father points his tennis racket as he explains it to his son.

Across the street:

• This cheerful café

Le Père Fecto

• Then an intersection, in the middle of which is island whose greenery was recently enriched (in 2025). On the other side is a City-run kindergarten.

Intersection, rues Jean Coly and Château des Rentiers

Signs in front of it show activist parents:

"We love public school" "Maintain the freedom of school directors not to be saddled by extra tasks."

Next to it is a street closed off to enlarge the greenery (in summer, 2025):

Sérizier, who was too well-known to go home, took refuge "in a house on rue du Château des Rentiers," the next street. 

-- Comte, Elements...

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City-run residences for seniors or the handicapped align