“He had a spectacular scar that split his palm from index finger to his wrist,” recalls Bertrand Laurence of his strongman-acrobat grandfather, Houssein ben Ibrik. “It was from his early years in Morocco. To stop the attacking blade, he’d grabbed the sword of a pirate mounted on a camel. With his other hand, he swung Read More…
The project ‘Forgotten Cosmopolitans’ is based on a two-year pilot project (2017-2018) entitled ‘Diverging Fates: Travelling Circus People in Europe during National Socialism’. From this first scientific encounter the utilization of a biographical approach has resulted in a collection of short life stories, visible on the project’s website: www.divergingfates.eu. The follow-up project ‘Forgotten Cosmopolitans’ will Read More…
For decades, the Michelet family owned a menagerie-circus (first Ménagerie Lorraine Giacometti/ later Cirque-ménagerie Michelet). Many articles and advertisements published in newspapers state that this family activity goes back to the second half of the nineteenth century. On tour the family went into different partnerships with other well-known circus companies, like Albus and Grüss/Gruss. Henri Read More…
