Maison du Tisserand (House of the Weaver)

On September 2, 1870, after the Battle of Sedan, Napoléon III and Otto von Bismarck met in a weaver's cottage in Donchery. Napoléon had left Sedan at 8 o'clock to confer with the Prussian king, whom he suspected to be in Donchery. Bismarck, to whom the incident had been reported, received Napoléon at the entrance to the village. Together they went to the poor house of a weaver on the thoroughfare, not far from Donchery. Assuming that the Kaiser intended to soften the terms of surrender, Bismarck refused to allow him to talk to the Prussian king at Vendresse until the surrender was signed. At 10:30 a.m., Napoleon III was taken to Frenois to the Château de Bellevue. Here, an hour later, the surrender was signed in the presence of the two monarchs.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar
• Photos: Koos Winkelman