The Café du Croissant or Crosse du Croisant (today the Taverne du Croissant) is a café in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris, France. It is famous for having been the place of the assassination of Jean Jaurès by Raoul Villain on 31 July 1914.
| Café du Croissant | |
|---|---|
 | |
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  Location within Paris | |
| Restaurant information | |
| Street address | 146 rue Montmartre–22 rue du Croissant 2nd arrondissement of Paris |
| Coordinates | 48°52′09″N 2°20′35.8″E / 48.86917°N 2.343278°E |
On 20 February 1938 the owner, Albert Wiedmer, donated the marble plaque of the table on which Jaurès was assassinated to the municipality of Champigny-sur-Marne at the request of the city's mayor Albert Thomas, a friend of Jaurès.[1] It was classified as a Historic Monument object in 1988.[2] Yet the waiters still have the patrons believe the café has kept the original table with a dark stain on a brighter wood that is said to be Jaurès's blood.[3]
The assassination is still remembered in the café: in 1923, a commemorative plaque was added to the façade by the Human Rights League;[4] a red and golden floor mosaic shows the date of Jaurès's death and the exact place where he fell.[5] Additionally, a window shelters a part of Jaurès's chair, his hat with a bullet inside,[6] and the two front pages of the newspaper L'Humanité of 31 July and 1 August 1914.[7]
On 31 July 1984 President François Mitterrand visited the Café du Croissant to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the assassination. In a radio show, he told that in 1934 he had rushed to the café to pay tribute to Jaurès.[8][9]
The establishment was re-opened in 2011 as the Taverne du Croissant.[10] On 31 July 2014 President François Hollande and Germany's Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel visited the café upon the centenary of the assassination of Jaurès.[11] The restaurant offered a special dinner menu for the centenary.[5]
References
edit- ^ "Table du café du Croissant". Topic-topos.com (in French).
- ^ Palissy
- ^ Deforges, Régine (2011). Le Paris de mes amours : Abécédaire sentimental (in French). Paris: Plon. p. 123. ISBN 978-2-259-20769-0.
- ^ Carrère, Christian (July 30, 1994). "L'hommage des communistes, hier au café du Croissant". L'Humanité (in French).
- ^ a b Boudet, Alexandre (July 30, 2014). "Le Café du croissant où Jean Jaurès a été assassiné ne surfe plus sur cet épisode". huffingtonpost.fr. Retrieved September 28, 2019.
- ^ Chao, Ramón; Ramonet, Ignacio (2008). Guide du Paris rebelle (in French). Paris: Plon. ISBN 978-2-259-20629-7.
- ^ Barret, Anne-Laure (August 19, 2012). "Au café du Croissant, pourquoi ont-ils tué Jaurès ?". Le Journal du dimanche (in French).
- ^ Epstein, Simon (2008). Un paradoxe français : Antiracistes dans la Collaboration, antisémites dans la Résistance. Bibliothèque Histoire (in French). Paris: Albin-Michel. p. 547. ISBN 978-2-226-17915-9.
- ^ Nay, Catherine (1984). Le Noir et le Rouge : ou l'histoire d'une ambition (in French). Paris: Grasset. p. 64. ISBN 2-246-28191-1.
- ^ Frappat, Bruno (September 23, 2011). "Une bonne bière". La Croix.
- ^ Laure Equy (July 31, 2014). "Au Café du Croissant, on ne partage pas Jaurès". Libération (in French). Retrieved September 28, 2019.
