Defrance-Gruft, Dillingen

The Defrance crypt is a listed chapel-shaped tomb built around 1900 in the Sankt Johann cemetery in Dillingen.

In the crypt there were several graves. On the memorial plaques placed on the inside of the tomb are written: Marie-Hélène-Émélie Peaucellier, née Defrance le 17 Juin 1843, décedée le 21 Février 1872, Léonie Defrance, née Jaunez, née le 1 Septembre 1848, décedée le 5 Juin 1888

Marie-Hélène-Émélie Peaucellier was one of the three wives of Charles-Nicolas Peaucellier, who was first reburied in the tomb from Paris. The reburial took place in 1919 shortly after World War I in what was then the French Occupation Zone for the Grand-Officier de la Légion d'honneur with full military honors. In 1929, another reburial took place in the Peaucellier crypt in Wallerfangen. His wife Marie-Hélène-Emélie was also reburied in Wallerfangen.

Since only deaths were officially documented, the sources are sparse. They are based on statements of Henry Villeroy de Galhau and Jean Cazal director of the Fayenceries de Sarreguemines and the last official Dillingen gravedigger Johann Thomaser present at the reburial. The second plaque reads: Jean Louis Piette, né le 29 Juin 1767, décedé le 23 Mars 1833, Marie-Georges Jules Piette, né le 2 Septembre 1815, décédé le 9 Août 1847, Anne-Gabrielle Piette, née Wurmser, née le 6 Janvier 1779, décédée le 15 Janvier 1851

The Piettes were related to the Defrance family and were moved from the old cemetery to the crypt in 1872. On the initiative of the local historian Aloys Lehnert, research in the 1960s was to determine the actual state of occupancy. With the support of the Compte de Bonneville, the then Secretary General of the Dillinger Hütte, the tomb was opened on January 28, 1966. On the left side, only empty niches and a coffin handle were found. The contents of the right side were not determined, as it was completely walled up.

The crypt was hardly affected by the devastation of the cemetery during the Second World War. In 2006, the crypt was restored in consultation with the state conservation office. In 2009, the commitment of the city of Dillingen was recognized with the Saarland Monument Preservation Award in the Public Owners group.