Communards' Wall


The Communards’ Wall at the Père Lachaise cemetery is where, on May 28, 1871, one-hundred and forty-seven fédérés, combatants of the Paris Commune, were shot and thrown in an open trench at the foot of the wall.
The Père Lachaise cemetery was established in May 1804 on a land owned by the Jesuits for centuries, and where Père Lachaise, confessor of Louis XIV, lived the latter part of his life. The cemetery of the aristocracy in the 19th century, it also received the remains of famous people from previous eras. During the spring of 1871 the last of the combatants of the Commune entrenched themselves in the cemetery. The , which was summoned to suppress the Commune, had control over the area towards the end of the afternoon of May 28th, and shot all of the prisoners against the wall.