French volunteers’ Vault, Père Lachaise Cemetery

Paris’s Père Lachaise Cemetery is famous for hosting Jim Morrison’s and Oscar Wilde’s graves, as well as thousands of other celebrities. In that regard, this major landmark of the City of Light is as much an open-air museum as a graveyard. Like every museum, Père Lachaise has its superstars, its mascots, and its dead spots. Among those little-known sections is the one devoted to Republican Spanish Civil War fighters, which is in the northeastern part of the cemetery, in a shaded corner that does not receive as much publicity as the neighbouring subdivisions – allocated to Holocaust and concentration camps memorials and to the Paris Commune. 

However, the Civil War corner counts several famous “residents,” like Francisco Largo Caballero – prime minister from September 1936 to May 1937 –, the German war photographer Gerda Taro – accidentally killed during the Battle of Brunete –, and the Polish doctor and XIVth International Brigade volunteer Mieczysław Domanski-Dubois – killed in action during the Battle of Belchite. Although the graves are by no means grandiose, they are well-kept, and wreaths and Spanish Republic flags and sashes are regularly laid on some of the tombs. Thus, a quick glance at those names and the part they played in the Civil War betrays a certain unifying intention on the part of those who designed that area of the cemetery. It is also interesting that the section is situated in the vicinity of what could be dubbed “Père Lachaise’s Communists’ corner,” where many prominent PCF members were buried. 

Seemingly placed there as a link between the latter section and the Civil War area, a vault containing the remains of three International Brigadiers – Gabriel Fort, Boris Guimpel, and Tadeuscz Oppman – acts as a tribute to the French Communist Party’s pivotal role in the recruitment of fighters. Indeed, Paris served as a major transit hub for European volunteers on their way to Spain and hosted the headquarters of the International Brigades. Another Civil War veteran, Pierre Georges – AKA Colonel Fabien –, who went on to become an important member of the French resistance, is also buried nearby. 

While most Spanish Republic supporters were interred in that area, it is worthy of note that the grave of Juan Negrín – prime minister from May 1937 to March 1939 – is located far away from his fellow exiles and foreign participants in the war. This makes sense, as Negrín remains a polarizing figure within the Left. Many, including members the PSOE, have criticized his authoritarian tendencies and his accommodating policy towards Moscow. Since Negrín passed away in 1956, it is easy to imagine that the memory of the Civil War was still fresh in the minds and that many Republican veterans were still holding a grudge against him. That said, this lonely grave is inappropriately discreet in relation to that statesman’s importance – only his initials were engraved on the side of the slab, along with a miniature flag of the Spanish Republic.  

AB-V