There are so many rich, untold stories of personalities from the Commune. It was a time of great suffering, but also much sly humour, clever commentary and wild adventures.
From Felix Belly’s proposal of the infamous ‘Amazons of the Seine’, who would kill the invading Prussians from a poisoned thimble plucked from their blouses, to the sharply-judged Madame Leroy, double agent, there is no shortage of people who deserve their own small spot in the sun.
This is my section for the tales of the minor players who appear in Petrol Girls, as well as those who do not – but who all profoundly contributed to the world of the Paris Commune.
Portraits of the Communards This gallery gathers the faces of the Paris Commune, a brief but transformative seventy-two-day period where the working class of Paris seized the reins of power. These portraits of the Communards offer a window into a small sample of the people who sought to build a “Universal Republic.” Some of these … Read more
A gallery of Appert portraits of the Communards, taken for the military trials after Bloody Week and the Paris Commune 1871.