‘L'urbanisme social se doit d'organiser un meilleur aménagement de l'humanité, vers un niveau de lumière, de joie et de santé, un meilleur rendement économique car il y a urgence à défendre la race dans tous les domaines contre la certitude de dégénérescence et de destruction que les lamentables statistiques de la natalité, maladie, mort, laissent apparaître : 18 % de la perte du revenu national est due à la maladie’
Henri Sellier
Henri Sellier, from the web site of the French senate
When Lisa came back to Suresnes and Richard was gone and war had broken out and she had her little Eve to look after and the worry of Else living with them.
For a while she did not know what to do. Her savings would soon run out and she would need to work. Else, meanwhile rushed around ineffectually, looking for a way out of the country. Now that war had broken out it was almost impossible to leave it. The borders were closing. The Spanish were interring refugees from France in camps to the South.
September passed; October, November, December, and there was still no news from Richard. He was in Laurenco Marques in a hellish limbo, writing increasingly desperate letters. France had not been invaded yet, but he was not in South Africa and so could not invite his daughter and wife to accompany him.
In January Lisa decided to do something about their situation. She went to see the mayor. He had a good reputation and it is possible that Richard had invited him once to their house for a meal. Perhaps they discussed the housing projects in Vienna. Richard and Else and their family grew up at 77 Waehringer Strasse and one of Vienna's housing projects was a few blocks down in 111 Waehringer Strasse.
Ever the internationalist, Henri Sellier’s heart warmed to Lisa, and he promised to see what he could do. She was beautiful, blameless single mother in a difficult situation. A month later Lisa was offered a job working as a translator and administrator in Hospital Foch nearby. She started work in March.
Ever the internationalist, Henri Sellier’s heart warmed to Lisa, and he promised to see what he could do. She was beautiful, blameless single mother in a difficult situation. A month later Lisa was offered a job working as a translator and administrator in Hospital Foch nearby. She started work in March.
As a German Lisa was exposed to the hatred of French people who didn't know her. Nothing was said about the prejudice Lisa faced, but Lisa told us a story that revealed it.
'Your mother was so clever she said. When she was only four she said to me:
"Look Mom, when we go into the shops, don't say anything. I'll speak. I will ask for everything."'
Did Lisa and Henri become lovers? I am her grandson and I shouldn't speculate, but I think she did not have a sexual relationship with Henri Sellier. It doesn't fit.
I think she was a strong-minded Lutheran at heart. She grew up as a straight talking tomboy companion of her brother Heini. There was almost nothing underhand about her. She was used to and easily accepted the adoration of men. Sellier was 57 and she was 30. It is likely that she was simply appreciative of Henri and grateful to him and that they were just 'good friends'.
I think she was a strong-minded Lutheran at heart. She grew up as a straight talking tomboy companion of her brother Heini. There was almost nothing underhand about her. She was used to and easily accepted the adoration of men. Sellier was 57 and she was 30. It is likely that she was simply appreciative of Henri and grateful to him and that they were just 'good friends'.
So, who was this Henri Sellier?
He happened to be France’s leading urban reformer of the inter-war period. In 1916 Sellier was made President of the office of urban redevelopment of the Seine, the Habitations à bon marché and he set into motion the construction of 15 Garden Cities, including Suresnes, in Paris.
He was also minister for public health in the government of Blum for a year and a senator of the republic from 1935 to his death in November 1943.e was especially concerned with promoting the welfare of ordinary workers, with issues like child health, education and sanitation. The inhabitants of Suresnes appreciated his work.
And, of course, from 1919 he was the mayor of Suresnes, reelected because he was effective and hard working socialist, turned communist, turned socialist again.
Henri Sellier's favourite saying was that the measure of the weakness of a man was the difference between what he said he would do and what he actually did.
Sellier was influenced by Bauhaus and Wagner and the ideas of Red Vienna. But his biggest influence was the dream of Ebenezer Howard in Britain to build garden cities.
Ebenezer Howard was shocked by the conditions of the urban poor his Garden Cities would combine the benefits of the countryside and the town, and avoid their drawbacks. Land would stay in public ownership to avoid property speculation and keep the housing affordable. There would be gardens and communal areas; public amenities like schools, gymnasiums, theatres and shops; some of the food would be grown in the garden city; and the housing density would be relatively low. Howard put into practice his ideas in Letchworth (1903) and Welwyn (1919).
He was also minister for public health in the government of Blum for a year and a senator of the republic from 1935 to his death in November 1943.e was especially concerned with promoting the welfare of ordinary workers, with issues like child health, education and sanitation. The inhabitants of Suresnes appreciated his work.
And, of course, from 1919 he was the mayor of Suresnes, reelected because he was effective and hard working socialist, turned communist, turned socialist again.
Henri Sellier's favourite saying was that the measure of the weakness of a man was the difference between what he said he would do and what he actually did.
Sellier was influenced by Bauhaus and Wagner and the ideas of Red Vienna. But his biggest influence was the dream of Ebenezer Howard in Britain to build garden cities.
Ebenezer Howard was shocked by the conditions of the urban poor his Garden Cities would combine the benefits of the countryside and the town, and avoid their drawbacks. Land would stay in public ownership to avoid property speculation and keep the housing affordable. There would be gardens and communal areas; public amenities like schools, gymnasiums, theatres and shops; some of the food would be grown in the garden city; and the housing density would be relatively low. Howard put into practice his ideas in Letchworth (1903) and Welwyn (1919).
Sellier did his best to ensure that Suresnes would be a model garden city. The 500 orange-brick buildings were six stories high. There were collective and individual dwellings, a chemists, a creche, churches, a theatre, a cooperative shop, a hall for celebrations, an old age people’s home, a place to borrow sports equipment, a school with a gymnasium and a swimming pool, Sellier even put aside land for a vineyard which still produces wine to this day.
But if Suresnes was a success the Garden City idea had slowly degraded. The first first Garden City to be built in Drancy between 1921 to 1929 in Rue de la Republique was modest and in accordance with the initial vision of a garden city. But one of the last Garden Cities the OPHBM built (1933 to 1935) was also in Drancy, in the Cite de la Muette.
It was high density and functional; built industrially. There are almost no green spaces in it and and the area put aside for communal space was minimal. It looks very like it was built in the early 1960s. During the second world war Drancy it became a deportation centre and then a German run concentration camp.
In July, after the Nazis invaded France, the Vichy government under Petain introduced constitutional reforms, but Sellier refused to take part. Instead he created a socialist action comite to oppose them, with links to the resistance.
A year later on the 20th May 1941, the interior minister, admiral Darlan removed Sellier from his post as mayor accusing him of being a hostile to the work of national renovation and in July he was imprisoned in Compiegne from the 22nd June to the 17th July.
On May the 29th 1942, with the Vichy press egging them on, the Germans ruled that all Jews over the age of 6 in France should wear a yellow star. Eve had just turned 6 in March.
Else put on the yellow star in May, and then tried to escape in August and then she was caught and in September she was sent to the Garden City of Drancy, not far from Suresnes, from her neice and sister in law who had no idea where she was. From Drancy she was sent to Auschwitz and, if she survived the journey, she was gassed on arrival.
Henri Selliers, meanwhile, returned to Suresnes, and he was a good companion and friend to Lisa. He died before the end of the war on 24th November 1943 and the main street of Suresnes now has his name.
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