A wood-carver and typographer by trade, a libertarian, he created the review La Coopération des Idées and then founded the people's universities. Converted to positivism, he had carved at the head of his stone “LA RELIGION DE L'HOMME” — the religion of Man — and the title he claimed: “inventeur des universités populaires”, inventor of the people's universities.
The story
“LA RELIGION DE L'HOMME”, the religion of man: four words carved at the head of Georges Deherme's stone, before his own name. That is what the positivists, the disciples of Auguste Comte, called their cult.
Born in Paris in April 1867, Georges Deherme was a wood carver and typographer by trade — and a libertarian. He created La Coopération des Idées, a review of social education, and founded in 1902, with Élisée Reclus, Jehan Rictus, Lucien Descaves and Maurice Donnay, a “milieu libre”, La Clairière de Vaux, at Essômes-sur-Marne: a community where people lived by their own ideas.
In 1899 he opened the first université populaire in Paris: a place of intellectual emancipation open to all, where people came to learn after work. That is the title he claimed and the one the stone carves — “inventeur des universités populaires”, inventor of the people's universities.
A convert to the positivism of Auguste Comte, he died in Brussels on 25 January 1937. The inscription closes on a declaration shared with his wife Henriette: “Tous deux disciples d'Auguste COMTE”, both of them disciples of Auguste Comte. The master lies a few steps away, in the same Division 17.
The grave
An inscription that is a profession of faith. It opens with three words carved at the head: “LA RELIGION DE L'HOMME” — the religion of Man, the name of the positivist cult. Then comes the title he claimed: “Georges DEHERME, 1867-1937, inventeur des universités populaires” — inventor of the people's universities — then his wife, “Henriette DEHERME, 1872-1937”, who died the same year as he did. The stone closes on a joint declaration: “Tous deux disciples d'Auguste COMTE” — both disciples of Auguste Comte — whose tomb lies a few steps away, in the same Division.
On site, do not miss
Three words at the head of the stone: “LA RELIGION DE L'HOMME” — the religion of Man. Then the title he claimed — “inventeur des universités populaires”, inventor of the people's universities — and the closing formula: “tous deux disciples d'Auguste COMTE”, both disciples of Auguste Comte.
Visitors' questions
Where is Georges Deherme's grave?
In Division 17, chemin de La Bédoyère, seventh row, a few steps from that of Auguste Comte — and that is no accident: the stone calls them both, him and his wife Henriette, “disciples d'Auguste Comte”.
Auguste ComteWhat did he invent?
The Universités populaires, the people's universities: places of intellectual emancipation open to all, where a man came to learn after work. His epitaph carves it in full — “inventeur des universités populaires”.
Louis BlancWhat does his epitaph say?
It opens on three words: “LA RELIGION DE L'HOMME”, the religion of Man, the name the positivists gave their cult. It then names Georges and Henriette Deherme, who died in the same year, “tous deux disciples d'Auguste COMTE”.
Clotilde de VauxWhat was La Clairière de Vaux?
A “milieu libre” — a free settlement, an experimental community — which he founded at Essômes-sur-Marne with Reclus, Rictus, Descaves and Donnay. He was a libertarian then, before his conversion to the positivism of Auguste Comte.
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