Marguerite Wapler

Catherine Marguerite Wapler was born on 14 July 1859, in Alexandria, Egypt.^[1] Her father, Alphonse Wapler (1831–1890), was a wealthy industrialist from Alsace, former mayor of Vassy, and sub-prefect of the town from 1880 until his death.^[1] On 17 October 1885, Wapler married anarchist activist Paul Reclus, of the Reclus family, at the town hall of the 5th arrondissement of Paris.^[1]

During the Ère des attentats (1892–1894), she was one of two patrons of the National Assembly bombing.^[2] Alongside an illegalist anarchist, she gave twenty francs to Auguste Vaillant to carry out his attack.^[2] During his trial, Vaillant tried to clear her of involvement in the bombing, claiming that the funds she provided were due to her generosity and desire to support his family financially.^[3][4]

Wapler was also targeted during the repression of January and February 1894, and her home was raided. This led her to respond to accusations that police had found plans for the bomb used by Vaillant during the attack.^[5]

On 31 December 1914, she dined with her husband and Pauline Kergomard.^[6] Wapler was the mother of two daughters who died in infancy—the last one in 1890—and two sons: Jacques Reclus and Michel Reclus (1889–1970).^[7][8]

She died in 1927.^[1]

• Brun, Christophe (2014). Elisée Reclus, une chronologie familiale : sa vie, ses voyages, ses écrits, ses ascendants, ses collatéraux, les descendants, leurs écrits, sa postérité [Elisée Reclus, a family timeline: his life, his travels, his writings, his ascendants, his collaterals, the descendants, their writings, his posterity] (in French). H.A.L.
• Maitron, Jean (1955), Histoire du mouvement anarchiste en France (1800-1914) (in French), Paris: Histoire du mouvement anarchiste en France, 1880-1914