Cimetière parisien de Thiais, Val-de-Marne (94), Île-de-France #10: Jean-Jacques Krafft

Jean-Jacques Krafft (1910–97) was a sculptor who worked in various materials, but particularly in wood in his later years.  He spent much of his time in the 12th arrondissement, and is noted for both his religious and his nude works.

This is the last of the graves I noted in Thiais. Again, I thank H. for helping us so much with our searches, and he has recently informed me that the prolific English writer Peter de Polnay (1906–1984) is also buried in this cemetery: we shall be back next year!

Cimetière parisien de Thiais, Val-de-Marne (94), Île-de-France #8: Francisco Boix-Campo

'FRANCISCO BOIX-CAMPO

DÉPORTÉ EN 1941, À L'ÂGE DE 21 ANS,

AU CAMP DE CONCENTRATION DE MAUTHAUSEN.

DÉCÉDÉ LE 7.7.1951

DES SUITES DE SA DÉPORTATION.

ANIMÉ D'UN GRAND COURAGE, IL SUBTILISA

AUX S.S. DES DOCUMENTS PHOTOGRAPHIQUES

ACCABLANTS POUR LES NAZIS QUI IMPOSÈRENT

LE RÉGIME CONCENTRATIONNAIRE.

L'AMICALE DES DÉPORTÉS DE MAUTHAUSEN'

'FRANCISCO BOIX-CAMPO

DEPORTED IN 1941, AT THE AGE OF 21,

TO MAUTHAUSEN CONCENTRATION CAMP.

DIED 7.7.1951

DUE TO COMPLICATIONS RELATING TO HIS DEPORTATION.

MOTIVATED BY HUGE COURAGE, HE HID

FROM THE S.S. PHOTOGRAPHIC DOCUMENTS

DAMNING FOR THE NAZIS WHO IMPOSED

THE CONCENTRATIONARY RÉGIME.

THE ASSOCIATION OF MAUTHAUSEN DEPORTEES'

Boix, as he is usually known, was a photographer and a Spanish republican exiled in France in 1939. In Mauthausen he was assigned to the photographic department. In 1946 he was a witness at the Nuremberg trails, where he provided photographic evidence of Nazi atrocities as well as the involvement of high-ranking former Nazi officials in Mauthausen concentration camp.

He later worked as a reporter for such publications as Ce soir, L'Humanité, and Regards.

Cimetière parisien de Thiais, Val-de-Marne (94), Île-de-France #7 Jean Hérold-Paquis

'Jean HÉROLD-PAQUIS

1912 – 1945'

–––––––––––––

Jean Hérold-Paquis was an extreme right-wing French radio journalist shot dead on 11 October 1945 at Fort de Châtillon, being noted for his pro-German activities with Radio Paris under the Vichy régime. In the previous decade he had worked for the fascists in the Spanish Civil War. His epitaph: 'Ce n'est qu'un au revoir mes frères...' ('This is only an au revoir, my brothers') was no doubt intended to have a chilling ring to it.

Cimetière parisien de Thiais, Val-de-Marne (94), Île-de-France #5: Han Ryner | Henri Ner

'HAN RYNER

HENRI NER

3 DÉCEMBRE 1861

5 JANVIER 1838'

The dates of Henri Ner (who preferred to be call himself Han Ryner) are in conflict here with Wikipédia, which claims he was born on 7 December and died on the 6 December, but these are minor matters of little importance.

Of much greater importance to me (as Ryner is a fascinating character) is the inscription lower down on the upright stone, which is difficult to read because of the weathering and the slight blurring of the image, but even more difficult to understand (for me at least) is the meaning of the inscription itself. What are the 'trois jours' he's referring to, and how does the inscription relate to the Greek (which I don't understand anything of anyway) below the French? I suspect that the French is a quotation from one of his many books, although I can find nothing online, and I've searched a number of his books. This is my reading of the French:

'HONORÉ[,] COMBIEN DURERONT

MES "TROIS JOURS" [?]

MAIS JE SUIS DE CEUX

QUI LIRONT CETTE INSCRIPTION [:]'

And then the Greek begins.

Ryner was a pacifist anarchist and a very prolific writer of novels, stories, essays, plays, and poetry. For Ryner, freedom is interior and he was much influenced by the ancient Greeks, particularly the Stoics. Two books give an idea of the range of his interests: Prostitués, études critiques sur les gens de lettres d'aujourd'hui (1904) (a critique of writers of the day) and L'Homme-fourmi (1901), about a man who turns into an ant. Some of his works were kinds of parables.

Cimetière parisien de Thiais, Val-de-Marne (94), Île-de-France #4: Joseph Roth

Our search for the graves in Thiais which follow was greatly assisted by an extremely helpful man who wishes simply to be known as Mister H. Many thanks to you: you saved us a great deal of time!

'JOSEPH ROTH

ÉCRIVAIN AUTRICHIEN

MORT À PARIS EN EXIL

2.9.1894 – 27.5.1939'

Roth's books – which were due to be destroyed by the Nazis – were marked by nostalgia for the Jewish past. Roth exiled himself as soon as Hitler took power in 1933, eventually settling in Paris. In 1939 he collapsed in front of his local – the Café Tournon, above which he lived – and died four days later of alcohol-related illness.

Some of his noted works are Hôtel Savoy (1924), Le poids de la grâce (1930), La Marche de Radetzky (1932), and La Crypte des Capucins (1938).

Cimetière parisien de Thiais, Val-de-Marne (94), Île-de-France #3: Marcel Thiébaut

'MARCEL THIÉBAUT

ÉCRIVAIN

1897–1961'

Thiébaut was a literary critic who ran Revue de Paris almost on his own for some years. He also wrote plays, including Doris (1946), Le Prince d'Aquitaine (1947), and Les Bonnes cartes (1949).

Cimetière parisien de Thiais, Val-de-Marne (94), Île-de-France #2: Étienne Hadju

'Je suis amoureux 1957

ÉTIENNE HADJU 1907–1996'

These words, which of course translate as 'I'm in love', are in fact the title of this work of sculpture by Étienne Hadju, made in 1957, which forms Hadju's gravestone: the 'folds' presumably represent a couple under a sheet in a bed, and this is quite a remarkable sight.

Hadju was a sculptor of the nouvelle École de Paris persuasion. He was born in Romania of Hungarian parents and went to Paris in 1927, where he was for a brief time a student of Antoine Bourdelle, and then of Paul Niclausse. He then discovered Fernand Léger and from 1930 he associated with Vieira da Silva Árpád Szenes.

Cimetière parisien de Thiais, Val-de-Marne (94), Île-de-France #1: Paul Celan

'PAUL CELAN

1920–1970'

The large number of stones laid here in tribute are an indication of Paul Celan's fame. Celan (born Paul Pessach Antschel (or Ancel – an anagram of Celan)) was a Romanian poet who wrote in German.

Celan's parents died in an internment camp during World War II, which deeply affected him throughout his life. He was sent to a work camp in Moldavia and freed by the Russians in 1944, changed his name and began earning his living as a translator in Romania. Moving to France, he became reader and translator of German at the ENS.

In 1970 he threw himself into the Seine.

Two important series of letters – the first to his wife Gisèle de Lestrange, the second to Ingeborg Bachmann – were published in 2001 and 2008 respectively.