Introduction

Louise Michel

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To commemorate the 100th anniversary of Louise Michel's death, the IISH presents a selection of documents of her life. As a communarde, determined revolutionary, and romantic writer, Louise Michel's revolutionary engagement originated in her opposition to Napoleon III during the Second Empire. In 1871, with the Paris Commune, her opposition to the bourgeois republic led by Adolphe Thiers became increasingly pronounced, and by 1880, her anarchist views clashed with the policies of the Third Republic.

This exhibition consists of a biography illustrated with pictures from the IISH collection, and some documents from the Louise Michel papers at the IISH. They tell something about the relations of Louise Michel with her mother, with her friends, and with the poor. They show her as a writer and a ethnographer. And, finally, they reveal her real personality: a passionate militant and a generous person.


The texts and documents included in this collection were selected by Hélène Saudrais as part of her internship at the IISH.