New source emerged: A woman from Wolfratshauser in the Elysee Palace

Created: 10/14/2022, 7:55 p.m

By: Volker Ufertinger

Henriette Poincaré Wife of French President Raymond Poincaré © Archive

Henriette Poincaré was the wife of the French President - and spent some time in Wolfratshausen.

In this country, however, they were not proud of them.

On the contrary.

Wolfratshausen – Imagine if the wife of French President Emmanuel Macron had close relatives in Wolfratshausen.

The newspapers would be full of reports, and the Loisach would undoubtedly be proud of the "big daughter of the city", as it would probably be called.

Why not?

Germany and France are friendly states, one forms the center of Europe.

You know and appreciate each other.

New source emerged: A woman from Wolfratshauser in the Elysee Palace

This was not always the case, for centuries there was bitter enmity between France and Germany - the so-called hereditary enmity.

Henriette Poincaré, a woman with close connections to the Loisach, was première dame at the Elysee Palace in a particularly hateful phase, early in the 20th century.

The result: in Wolfratshausen they were not at all proud of them.

On the contrary, they were viewed with suspicion.

Finally, her husband, Raymond Poincaré, drove a strictly anti-German course.

Among other things, he was the driving force behind the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, which imposed harsh conditions on defeated Germany after World War I.

New find in the city archive - including a lurid newspaper article

A new source made available to us by the historian Michael Holzmann reveals how critically Henriette Poincaré was viewed in Wolfratshausen in the early 1920s.

In the city archives he came across an article in the Wolfratshauser Wochenblatt dated January 22, 1922.

There it says: “Wolfratshausen enjoys the dubious honor of having hosted the wife of the French Prime Minister Poincaré, who had such a disastrous effect on Germany, for a long time.

Mrs. Poincaré's mother was a daughter of the Munich court musician Moosbauer, who died in the 1940s." After a few words about the life of the renegades, the author summarizes his view in the sentence: "One notices the German blood in the Unfortunately, the Poincaré family today nothing more.

On the contrary."

You can read all the news from Wolfratshausen here.

Henriette Poincaré - She learned German in Loisachstadt

In fact, Wolfratshausen plays an important role in Henriette Poincaré's life.

She was born on May 8, 1858 in a Paris suburb - so she was French.

As mentioned in the newspaper article from 1922, her mother Louise was the sister of Friedrich Moosbauer, the man who played an important role in the founding of the TSV Wolfratshausen and the voluntary fire brigade and after whom the street that runs past the district clinic is named.

From time to time the young woman was a guest at the Loisach, and it is said that she even learned German here.

She is said to have attracted general attention with her elegant appearance.

also read

Citizens' meeting in Geretsried: Few citizens, many topics

At knifepoint: Wolfratshauser (23) robbed at Harras

Late marriage to Raymond Poincaré - the future President of France

Moosbauer's niece probably met Raymond Poincaré in 1892. She had been divorced once, widowed once and, at 34, was not very young by the standards of the time when she met the young, up-and-coming lawyer Poincaré in Paris.

In 1904 the couple married in a civil registry office and in 1913 in a church one.

She could not give birth to children for unknown reasons.

Wolfratshauserin Henriette was deeply in despair because of the First World War

In 1913 Poincaré was elected President.

His wife brought order into his life, coordinated his appointments, conducted his correspondence and organized brilliant receptions.

The First World War seems to have plunged her into deep despair - at least that's what her husband writes in the diary he kept all his life.

When the war was over, she took part in the great "Te Deum" that was intoned at Notre Dame.

Death in occupied Paris: Henriette died under the occupation of Hitler's Germany

Raymond Poincaré died in 1934 after suffering a stroke.

His wife followed him in 1943, she died in Paris occupied by Hitler Germany.

It is not known whether she ever saw Wolfratshausen again or wanted to see him again.

By the way: everything from the region is also available in our regular Wolfratshausen-Geretsried newsletter.