Thiais

Thiais (French pronunciation: [tjɛ] ^ⓘ) is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 10.3 km (6.4 mi) from the center of Paris.^[3]

Thiais
Commune
The church Saint-Leu
Coat of arms
Paris and inner ring departments
Location of Thiais
Thiais Show map of France Thiais Show map of Île-de-France (region)
Coordinates: 48°45′54″N 2°23′32″E
Country	France
Region	Île-de-France
Department	Val-de-Marne
Arrondissement	L'Haÿ-les-Roses
Canton	Thiais
Intercommunality	Grand Paris
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Richard Dell'Agnola[1]
Area 1	6.43 km2 (2.48 sq mi)
Population  (2022)[2]	32,006
• Density	5,000/km2 (13,000/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	94073 /
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

The name Thiais comes from Medieval Latin Theodasium or Theodaxium, meaning "estate of Theodasius", a Gallo-Roman landowner.

The Austrian writer Joseph Roth, exiled due to his opposition to the Nazi regime, lived at Thiais at the end of the 1930s and is buried at the local cemetery. The tomb of Russian writer Yevgeny Zamyatin is also there. Expatriate American journalist and novelist William Gardner Smith died there in 1974.^[4]

Thiais is best known for its cemetery, the second largest of Paris.

Population

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1793 1,028 —     1800 653 −6.28% 1806 760 +2.56% 1821 620 −1.35% 1831 1,032 +5.23% 1836 1,086 +1.03% 1841 1,172 +1.54% 1846 1,140 −0.55% 1851 1,099 −0.73% 1856 1,155 +1.00% 1861 1,268 +1.88% 1866 1,462 +2.89% 1872 1,364 −1.15% 1876 1,760 +6.58% 1881 2,120 +3.79% 1886 2,591 +4.09% 1891 2,616 +0.19% 1896 2,771 +1.16%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1901 3,018 +1.72% 1906 3,477 +2.87% 1911 4,036 +3.03% 1921 4,469 +1.02% 1926 5,787 +5.30% 1931 7,034 +3.98% 1936 8,246 +3.23% 1946 8,350 +0.13% 1954 10,026 +2.31% 1962 15,116 +5.27% 1968 22,481 +6.84% 1975 27,298 +2.81% 1982 26,637 −0.35% 1990 27,515 +0.41% 1999 28,232 +0.29% 2007 29,273 +0.45% 2012 29,422 +0.10% 2017 29,017 −0.28%
Source: EHESS[5] and INSEE (1968-2017)[6]

Transport

Thiais is served by Pont de Rungis–Aéroport d'Orly station on Paris RER line C. It is also served by Choisy-le-Roi station on Paris RER line C. This station, although administratively located on the territory of Choisy-le-Roi, lies closer to the town center of Thiais than Pont de Rungis – Aéroport d'Orly station does, and is thus used by people in Thiais.

Education

The commune has:

• Seven preschools (écoles maternelles): Jeanne d'Arc, Romain Gary, Charles Péguy, Jacques Prévert, Saint Exupéry, Robert Schuman, and des Tilleuls^[7]
• Six elementary schools: Charles Péguy, Romain Gary, Camille Claudel, Paul Éluard, Saint-Exupéry, and Robert Schuman^[8]
• Three junior high schools: Collège Albert Camus, Collège Paul Valéry, and Collège Paul Klee^[9]
• Lycée Guillaume Apollinaire, a senior high school/sixth-form college^[10]

Monuments

• Paul Celan's grave.
• Farhad Mehrad's grave. Farhad was cremated and is buried in the Thiais.
• Yevgeny Zamyatin's grave.

See also

• Communes of the Val-de-Marne department