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Origin and history

The cemetery of the Portuguese Jews of Paris, also known as the Israelite cemetery of the Villette, was founded in the late eighteenth century by Jacob Rodrigue Pereire, pioneer of the education of the deaf-muets in France. Located at 44 avenue de Flandre, in the current 19th arrondissement, it responded to the need to offer a decent burial to Portuguese Jews, after unworthy practices in a nearby hostel (the Star), where bodies were mixed with animal remains by a tailor named Matard. Pereire acquired the land for 800 pounds on 3 March 1780, and the cemetery was officially authorized by order of Lieutenant of Police Lenoir on 7 March 1780. The first burial took place the next day, and Pereire himself was buried there in September 1780.

The cemetery, with an area of 424 m2 (35 × 10 m), has 28 burials and became the property of the Jewish Consistory of Paris in 1809. He closed on 18 February 1810 with the opening of an Israelite section to Father Lachaise. Today inaccessible without permission, it has been classified as a historical monument since 1966. Some graves have prominent epitaphs, such as Solomon Perpignan, trustee of the Avignon Jews, or inscriptions on the Republican calendar. The venue also inspires cultural works, such as Laurent Roth's film L'Emmuré de Paris (2021) and Prague's novel Le Cimetière (2011) d'Umberto Eco.

Prior to its creation, Jewish burials took place in the garden of the inn "L"Etoile (No. 46), held by a certain Cameau or Camot, and then by the renderer Matard. The latter, by mixing human bodies and animals, pushes Pereire to act. The cemetery, though modest, bears witness to the history of the Portuguese Jews in Paris and their gradual integration into French society. A History of Paris panel on the avenue de Flanders today recalls its existence.

Among the notable burials, that of Salomon Perpignan, founder of the free royal drawing school (1767) and trustee of the Jews of Avignon, is mentioned with honour. Another epitaph, dated from the Republican era, celebrates freedom: "I love my situation better than slavery. O immortal soul, seek to live free or follow me as a good Republican. These written traces illustrate the tensions between Jewish traditions and revolutionary values.

The cemetery is the only protected religious establishment in the 19th arrondissement until 2015, when the Saint-Jean-Baptiste church of Belleville is classified. Despite its current state of relative abandonment, it remains a symbol of Parisian Jewish memory and a place of unknown historical heritage, accessible only upon request from the Jewish Consistory of Paris.

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