Gaston Crémieux

Born June 22, 1836, in Nimes; died Nov. 30, 1871, in Marseille. French revolutionary.

Crémieux worked as a lawyer in Nîmes and later in Marseille. After the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, he tried to foment a rebellion among republicans in Marseille but was arrested in August 1870. He was freed after the revolution of Sept. 4, 1870. On Mar. 23, 1871, he headed a rebellion in Marseille that led to the proclamation of the Commune in the city. Crémieux was elected chairman of the Commune’s ruling organ, the department commission. He held a moderate position and opposed the use of revolutionary terror against the enemies of the Commune. The Marseille Commune was suppressed on Apr. 4, 1871. Crémieux was arrested on the night of April 7, sentenced to death by a court martial, and shot.