Eugène Pottier, a packer and then a textile designer, was mayor of the 2nd arrondissement during the Commune. In June 1871, in hiding, while the city was still shooting, he wrote the six verses of L'Internationale. He then knew Belgium, England and the United States, until the amnesty of 1880. Degeyter set the poem to music a year after his death: he never heard it sung.
The story
Eugène Pottier was born in Paris on 4 October 1816. A packer, then a designer of printed fabrics, and a songwriter since his teens, he was in every republican fight of the century.
Elected mayor of the 2nd arrondissement during the Commune, he wrote in June 1871, in hiding, while Paris was still shooting its prisoners, the six verses of “L'Internationale”.
He fled to Belgium, to England, then to the United States, where the masonic lodges took him in. The amnesty of 1880 brought him home to France, ill and ruined.
He died on 6 November 1887. Thousands followed his coffin; the police made a clumsy attempt to seize the red flags in the procession. Pierre Degeyter set the poem to music the year after, in 1888: Pottier never heard his own anthem sung.
His monument in Division 95 was raised in 1905 by national subscription, on a plot granted free of charge by prefectoral order. A second monument to his memory stands near the Communards' Wall, unveiled on 24 May 1908.
The grave
A modest monument, raised only in 1905 — eighteen years after his death — by national subscription, on a plot granted free of charge by prefectoral order. The inscription fits in two words and two dates: “Eugène Pottier, 1816-1887”. Nothing of L'Internationale, nothing of the Commune, nothing of the mayoralty of the 2nd arrondissement. The monument that bears his name and draws visitors is elsewhere: near the Communards' Wall, in Division 76, unveiled on 24 May 1908.
On site, do not miss
Two words and two dates on a modest stone — then, in Division 76, the second monument raised to his memory near the Wall.
Visitors' questions
Where is Eugène Pottier's grave?
In Division 95, Avenue Transversale No. 3, first row, in the upper, eastern part of the cemetery. The monument is modest: it was raised only in 1905, eighteen years after his death, by national subscription.
The Communards' WallWhen did he write “The Internationale”?
In June 1871, in hiding, while the repression of the Commune was still under way. He had been mayor of the 2nd arrondissement under the Commune and was then on the run from prosecution, before reaching Belgium and then the United States.
Jean-Baptiste ClémentDid he ever hear his anthem sung?
Never: Pierre Degeyter did not set the poem to music until 1888, a year after Pottier's death. The author of the most widely sung words of the labour movement worldwide knew his anthem only as a written text.
Charles AmourouxIs there another monument to his memory?
Yes, near the Communards' Wall, in Division 76: it was unveiled on 24 May 1908, and the ceremony ended in a brawl between socialists that the prefect Lépine came in person to calm down.
Marcel CachinAudio guide to Père Lachaise: the best unusual guided tour!
Discover the secrets of the most astonishing tombs
the audio guidefrom€6.99