Louise Crombach

[1] Louise Crombach was the daughter of a peasant woman from Franche-Comté and an Alsatian Jew and she received a modest education.

[2] She began her professional life as a seamstress but, in view of her literary talent, which was compared to that of Elisa Mercœur,[2] she was sent to Paris, where she was welcomed by Amable Tastu.

[3] Her first children's book, Le Jeune libéré, was published in 1839 and received the Montyon Prize from the French Academy the following year.

[5][1] In 1843, Flora Tristan, in spite of Louise Crombach's difficult financial situation, solicited her for a subscription that she organized for the newspaper L'Union ouvrière.

[4] Accused of having let a captive escape on February 6, 1845, a trial followed on May 30, 1845, during which letters insinuating that Crombach had a lesbian relationship with a prisoner were read.

[1] Desbordes-Valmore intervenes in this trial, exclaiming:[8][9] J'ai vu une fois de près un tribunal d'hommes.