Pas de statue pour Hubertine: Quand notre mémoire d’une pionnière du suffragisme fait des vagues

Abstract

In 1914, the death of Hubertine Auclert, who had dedicated her life to the feminist cause, stirred great emotion. The idea of erecting a statue in her honour was considered, but never materialized. Auclert’s memory is thus preserved in more confidential sites of remembrance. We have identified three moments, each associated with a different place. Until 1930, the suffragist’s tomb was a place of feminist pilgrimage. The following years appear to have been a low point in the history of her memory, but it was then that activist Marie-Louise Bouglé collected Auclert’s archives for safekeeping in her library, preserving them from destruction. However, while Auclert gained a degree of recognition in the wake of the second wave of feminism, the Panthéon remains closed to her. In this respect, she is emblematic of women, and even more so of feminists, who occupy a place of secondary importance in France’s national memory.