Blanche Lefebvre

Blanche Lefebvre (or Lefevre) (1847 - 23 May 1871) was a communard active in the Batignolles quarter in the 17th arrondissement of Paris.

[1] Abbot Paul Fontoulieu, a strongly anti-communard but otherwise generally reliable contemporary,[4] described Lefebvre as the "queen" of the podium at the Batignolles - and as a "terrible woman", a "fanatic" who "loved the insurrection as others love a man,"[5] capable of making any sacrifice for the Commune.

He compared her to Théroigne de Méricourt and Charlotte Corday (not, in his opinion, a flattering comparison), and related a story in which she shot dead a Fédéré captain on 22 May for his cowardice in the face of the Commune's looming defeat.

[6] Lefebvre was one of the women who participated in the defence of Place Blanche on 23 May 1871, along with Élisabeth Dmitrieff, Nathalie Lemel, Malvina Poulain [fr], and Julia Béatrix Euvrie.

[7] She was killed fighting Versailles troops later that day, on the rue des Dames [fr] in the 17th arrondissement,[2] on the Batignolles barricade.

Call to the working women of Paris to join the Union des femmes during the 1871 Paris Commune, signed by Blanche Lefebvre
Commemorative plaque for Place Blanche Lefebvre