Paris erases the name of Maurice Barrès from the public space

The City of Paris has renamed Place Maurice-Barrès, in the 1st arrondissement, Place Lucie-Dreyfus, after the wife of Captain Alfred Dreyfus. This decision by the Socialist mayor of the capital, Emmanuel Grégoire, announced in mid-July, puts an end to the presence in Parisian public spaces of the name of this writer, recognized for his talent but also for his virulent anti-Semitic views.

A tribute linked to the fight against anti-Semitism

According to the City of Paris, this name change coincides with the national day of commemoration for Alfred Dreyfus, following the installation of a statue of the captain in front of the Court of Cassation, at the very spot where his innocence was definitively recognized on July 12, 1906. An officer of Jewish faith, Alfred Dreyfus was condemned at the end of the 19th century for high treason on the basis of false evidence, in a climate of state anti-Semitism that had deeply divided French society.

Maurice Barrès, born in Charmes in the Vosges in 1862 and died in 1923, established himself as one of the most influential French writers of his time with novels such as Les Déracinés or La Colline inspirée, before becoming one of the major figures of the anti-Dreyfusard camp and of French nationalism at the turn of the 20th century.

A debate that has resonated even in Lorraine

In Charmes, the writer's hometown where many streets still bear his name, the independent mayor Raphaël Michelet defended the opposite position, explaining that he preferred to retain the image of a talented author while acknowledging his anti-Semitic remarks, which he placed in the context of an era when, according to him, this type of discourse was unfortunately very widespread.

Conversely, the socialist mayor of Verdun, in the Meuse, Samuel Hazard, welcomed the Parisian decision, believing that beyond his talent as a writer, it was essential not to forget who Maurice Barrès really was, and arguing that his name should no longer be given to new public spaces.