Monument Erected in Paris to Commemorate General Dumas Apr 08, 2009

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A monument to commemorate general Dumas was opened in Paris recently. A work of sculptor Driss Sans-Arcidet, the monument was erected in the square of general Catroux, area XVII of the capital, not far from Malesherbes subway station. The monument is a pair of slave chain cuffs which are five meters high and weighing several tons. It became the first large scale monument in Europe dedicate to a period of slavery. The composition is completed with lighting that will be switched on during the dark hours. General Dumas is the father of Alexandre Dumas – the writer of “The Three Musketeers”. The memorial stands in place of a monument created by Alfons de Peren de Monsel in winter of 1912-1913, taken down in 1943 by the Nazis because of Dumas’ Antillean lineage.

Now the square of general Catroux can be called once again “The Square of the Three Dumas” much like in the beginning of the previous century. There are two more monuments in the square: one in memory of Alexandre Dumas, author of “The Three Musketeers” and another one in memory of Dumas the son, author of “The Lady of the Camellias” and “La Traviata”. Thomas-Alexandre Dumas Davey de la Pailleterie, Alexandre Dumas, was born to a slave woman on Tahiti in 1762. His mother, Cesette, was an Afro-Caribbean slave and his father, Alexandre-Antoine de la Pailleterie, an aristocrat. At the age of fourteen, Thomas-Alexandre arrived to France accompanying his father to Normandy and enlisted into the military in Verdun under the pseudonym Alexandre Dumas. He made a remarkable military career serving as a general in Napoleon’s army. The name of Alexandre Dumas is engraved on the Arch of Triumph.