Étienne Monier (20 April 1889 – 21 April 1913), also known as Élie Monier and nicknamed Simentoff, was a French

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...

and member of the infamous Bonnot Gang.

Life

Étienne Monier was born into a family of winegrowers in

Estagel Estagel (; ca, Estagell) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France. Geography Localisation Estagel is located in the canton of La Vallée de l'Agly and in the arrondissement of Perpignan. Population N ...

, in

Pyrénées-Orientales Pyrénées-Orientales (; ca, Pirineus Orientals ; oc, Pirenèus Orientals ; ), also known as Northern Catalonia, is a department of the region of Occitania, Southern France, adjacent to the northern Spanish frontier and the Mediterranean Sea. ...

, a small town with a strong anarchist tradition since the local population resisted

Napoléon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...

taking power in 1851. Monier started by learning to become a gardener and a florist, before deciding to move to Paris in 1909. At the end of 1910, refusing to fulfill his

military service Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, air forces, and naval forces, whether as a chosen job (volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription). Some nations (e.g., Mexico) require a ...

, he was forced to flee abroad. To be able to come back in France, he used the papers of an anarchist friend, Samuelis Simentoff, born in 1887 in Turkey. Back in Paris, he met

Victor Serge Victor Serge (; 1890–1947), born Victor Lvovich Kibalchich (russian: Ви́ктор Льво́вич Киба́льчич), was a Russian revolutionary Marxist, novelist, poet and historian. Originally an anarchist, he joined the Bolsheviks fi ...

and

Rirette Maîtrejean Rirette Maîtrejean was the pseudonym of Anna Estorges (born 14 August 1887; died 11 June 1968). She was a French people, French individualist anarchism, individualist anarchist born in TulleRichard Parry. ''The Bonnot Gang: The Story of the Frenc ...

and, later,

Jules Bonnot Jules Joseph Bonnot (October 14, 1876 – April 28, 1912) was a French bank robber famous for his involvement in a criminal anarchist organization dubbed "The Bonnot Gang" by the French press. He viewed himself as a professional A professio ...

, leading him to become a member of the Bonnot Gang. On 25 March 1912, the gang, including Étienne Monier, stole a

de Dion-Bouton De Dion-Bouton was a French automobile manufacturer and railcar manufacturer operating from 1883 to 1953. The company was founded by the Marquis Jules-Albert de Dion, Georges Bouton, and Bouton's brother-in-law Charles Trépardoux. Steam cars T ...

automobile in the

Forest of Sénart The Forest of Sénart (french: Forêt de Sénart, ) is located in the French department of Essonne. It covers 3,000 hectares in area, this forest is very important to the local population. The local government has kept roads and agricultural com ...

south of

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

by shooting the driver through the heart. They drove into

Chantilly Chantilly may refer to: Places France *Chantilly, Oise, a city located in the Oise department **US Chantilly, a football club *Château de Chantilly, a historic château located in the town of Chantilly United States * Chantilly, Missou ...

, north of Paris, where they robbed the local branch of the

Société Générale Société Générale S.A. (), colloquially known in English as SocGen (), is a French-based multinational financial services company founded in 1864, registered in downtown Paris and headquartered nearby in La Défense. Société Générale ...

bankshooting the bank's three cashiers. They escaped in their stolen automobile as two policemen tried to catch them, one on horseback and the other on a bicycle. Étienne Monier then worked for some time in Antoine Gauzy's shop in

Ivry-sur-Seine Ivry-sur-Seine () is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Paris's main Asian district, the Quartier Asiatique in the 13th arrondissement, borders the co ...

. Gauzy gave shelter to Bonnot later, sent by Monier and not knowing clearly his real identity. When the police came to Gauzy's shop on 24 April 1912, Bonnot killed Louis Jouin, the vice-chief of the French police, and escaped. On the same day, Monier was arrested in Belleville, in Paris. The trial of the gang's survivors began on 3 February 1913. Monier was sentenced to death with André Soudy and Raymond Callemin. All three were guillotined on 21 April 1913.

References

1889 births 1913 deaths People from Pyrénées-Orientales Illegalists French anarchists French bank robbers French gangsters Executed anarchists People executed by France by guillotine People executed for robbery {{anarchist-stub