Raphaël Élizé
Biography
A veterinary surgeon from Martinique who became the first man of mixed race to be elected mayor of a commune in mainland France,[1] and who was killed at Buchenwald in the bombing of the factory the camp made him work in.
From Le Lamentin to Lyon, 1891–1914
He was born on 4 February 1891 at Le Lamentin in Martinique, the great-grandson of enslaved people. In 1902 his father moved the family out of Saint-Pierre — to Fort-de-France and Le Diamant — shortly before Mount Pelée destroyed the town, and relief arrangements then brought them to Paris. He went to school there, entered the veterinary college at Lyon in 1910 and qualified in July 1914, which is to say a month before the war began.
Sablé-sur-Sarthe, 1919–1940
He served with the 36th colonial infantry regiment and came out of the war with the Croix de guerre. In 1919 he took a veterinary post at Sablé-sur-Sarthe, and in the municipal elections of 1929 a Socialist–Radical list carried the town and made him its mayor. He held the office for eleven years, which is the part usually left out of the phrase "the first": he was not a symbol passing through, he was the man who ran the place.
Refused his own office, 1940
When he tried to resume his duties in September 1940 the German Feldkommandantur turned him down in writing, on the stated ground that it was "incomprehensible to German resentment and to the German sense of law that a man of colour should hold the office of mayor".[1] An occupying administration put in writing that his colour disqualified him, four and a half years before its army killed him.
Resistance, arrest, Buchenwald, 1943–1945
He went back to veterinary work and from the spring of 1943 used it as cover, gathering intelligence on rounds that took him legitimately across the countryside. He was denounced, arrested in September 1943, and deported to Buchenwald on 17 January 1944.[1] He was killed on 9 February 1945 when the US Air Force bombed the Gustloff armaments works, where prisoners from the camp were set to work. He was 54.
Questions visitors ask
- Who was Raphaël Élizé?
- A veterinary surgeon from Martinique, the great-grandson of enslaved people, who was elected mayor of Sablé-sur-Sarthe in 1929 — the first man of mixed race to hold that office in a mainland French commune.
- Why was Raphaël Élizé removed from office?
- In September 1940 the German Feldkommandantur refused in writing to let him resume his duties, on the stated ground that it was "incomprehensible to German resentment and to the German sense of law that a man of colour should hold the office of mayor".
- What is Raphaël Élizé's connection to Buchenwald?
- Arrested in September 1943 for resistance work and deported to Buchenwald on 17 January 1944, he was killed on 9 February 1945 when the US Air Force bombed the Gustloff armaments works, where the camp had set him to labour.
- Can I learn more about Raphaël Élizé in Weimar?
- Yes, at the Buchenwald Memorial, which names him among the dead of the 9 February 1945 raid.[2]
Sources
- Raphaël Élizé — Wikipédia, retrieved 29 August 2026
- 9. Februar 1945 – Der Luftangriff — Gedenkstätte Buchenwald, retrieved 29 August 2026
Notable Works & Achievements
Mayor of Sablé-sur-Sarthe (1929–1940)
Croix de guerre (First World War)
Connected Places in Weimar
Buchenwald, 99427 Weimar
Deported here on 17 January 1944 and killed on the Ettersberg on 9 February 1945; the memorial names him among the raid's dead.[^buchenwald-luftangriff-1945]
Historical Context
A French mayor removed from office for his colour in 1940 and murdered near Weimar in 1945 — the period seen from the other end.
The regime wanted Weimar for what its name meant, and it built a concentration camp on the hill above the town. Both facts belong to the same twelve years.
Read more about this period →Quick Facts
1891
1945
French
In Weimar's history
In Weimar's history
From July 1937 the SS had prisoners build a camp on the Ettersberg, the wooded hill above the town. 277,800 people from more than fifty countries were held there; 56,000 did not survive.
One of the 277,800 deported to Buchenwald, from 17 January 1944 until his death.
A US Air Force raid aimed at the Gustloff armaments works north of Weimar. Eight of ten bombs fell in one tight cluster, killing concentration camp prisoners at their machines, and the Nationaltheater was destroyed the same day.
Killed in the raid on the Gustloff works, where he was among the prisoners set to armaments labour.