Émile Henry

Indictment

The accused was born in Spain where his parents took refuge after the events of 1871, in which they'd taken an active part. In 1882, after the amnesty, his parents returned to France. He received a complete education, presented for the entrance examination for the École Polytechnique, but failed the second part of the test. He then entered the shop of a construction engineer, who sent him to Venice to work on a public works project for which he was the contractor. Barely three months later he left a job that could have been a career. When he returned to Paris he found himself at a commercial establishment that paid him 125 francs per month. At that time he became, to use his own words, a determined anarchist. The superiority of h... (From: Marxists.org.)

Interrogation of Émile Henry, The

1894

On February 12 you entered the Café Terminus. Yes, at eight o’clock. Your bomb was in your pants belt. No, in my overcoat pocket. Why did you go to the Cafe Terminus? I had first gone to Bignon, the Café de la Paix and the Americain but there weren’t enough people. So I went to the Terminus and I waited. There was an orchestra. How long did you wait? An hour. Why? So that there would be a bigger crowd. And then? You know full well. I’m asking you. I threw away my cigar! I lit the fuze and then taking the bomb in my hand I left and, as I was leaving the caf&ea (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Letter to the Director of the Concierger...

1894

During the visit you made to my cell Sunday, the 18th of this month, we had a quite friendly discussion of anarchist ideas. You said you were very surprised to learn our theories in a different light, and you asked me to summarize our conversation in writing, in order to better know what the anarchists want. You can easily understand, monsieur, that in just a few pages one can’t expound upon a theory which analyzes our current social life in all of its manifestations; that studies these manifestations the way a doctor examines a sick body, and which then condemns them because they’re contrary to human happiness and, in place of them, builds an entirely new life, based on principles completely antagonistic to those ... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Émile Henry’s Defense

1894

It is not a defense that I present to you. I am not in any way seeking to escape the reprisals of the society I have attacked. Besides, I acknowledge only one tribunal — myself, and the verdict of any other is meaningless to me. I wish merely to give you an explanation of my acts and to tell you how I was led to perform them. I have been an anarchist for only a short time. It was as recently as the middle of the year 1891 that I entered the revolutionary movement. Up to that time, I had lived in circles entirely imbued with current morality. I had been accustomed to respect and even to love the principles of fatherland and family, of authority and property. For teachers in the present generation too often forget one thin... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

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Émile Henry

August 26, 1872 — May 21, 1894

Entry 4008

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Interrogation of Émile Henry, The

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