Papin sisters

Christine and Lea Papin were two French maids who murdered their employer's wife and daughter in Le Mans,France, on 2nd February, 1933. This incident had a significant influence on French intellectuals Genet, Sartre andLacan, who sought to analyse it, and it was thought of by some as symbolic of class struggle. The case has formed the basis of a number of films and plays.

Life and Crime

Christine (born 8th March, 1905) and Lea (born 15th September, 1911) had grown up in villages south of Le Mans. They had another sister, Emilia, who became a nun. Both of them spent time in institutions as a result of the breakdown of their parents' marriage. As they grew older, they worked as maids in various Le Mans homes, preferring, whenever possible, to work together.

From about 1926, they worked as live-in maids in the home of Monsieur Rene Lancelin, a retired solicitor, in Rue Bruyere, Le Mans. The family was also made up of his wife and adult daughter, who was still living with her parents (another daughter was married). The two maids were extremely quiet and retiring young women, who kept to themselves and appeared to have no interest but each other...

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