The cemetery was opened in October 1929 and is therefore the newest of the three Parisian cemeteries extra muros, the others being the cimetière parisien de Bagneux and the cimetière parisien de Pantin. It is now a true cosmopolitan cemetery, where many faiths are represented.[1]
Thiais is the second largest Parisian cemetery. Only Pantin is larger. There are about 6,000 trees. The cemetery is divided into 123 numbered divisions in which there are an estimated 150,000 graves. Because the cemetery is so large, people with a walking disability can be driven around.
In divisions 48 through 55 there are Jardins de la Fraternité which are meant for burial of those in Paris who could not afford burial or who could not be identified. Because of this it has the reputation of being the "Cemetery of the poor and penniless".[2]
Ashes of the dead who donated their body to science are scattered in Division 102, where several stelae stand in their memory.
Individual burials. Many of the graves have been cleared after the concession expired.
Jean-Marie Bastien-Thiry, French Air Force lieutenant-colonel, sentenced to death by court martial, he was the last French person to be executed by firing squad, later reburied in the cemetery of Bourg-la-Reine
Franz Stock, first German theology student in France since the Middle Ages, his remains were transferred to the church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Rechèvres in Chartres in June 1963
Yevgeny Zamyatin, Russian author of science fiction and political satire
Zog of Albania, former president, prime minister and king of Albania (his remains have since been repatriated to Albania).
Located in the banlieue southwest of the city of Paris, France, the main entrance to the Cimetière de Thiais is located at 261 Route de Fontainebleau, in Thiais, near the junction with Avenue de la Republique. There is also a smaller entrance: Porte Est on Avenue de Général de Gaulle.
The inhabitants of Thiais are buried in the communal cemetery just off Avenue Général de Gaulle, near Espace des 4 Saisons.
^"Laval's Body Taken To Family Mausoleum". Lubbock Morning Avalanche. Lubbock, Texas. 16 November 1945. p. 3. Retrieved 2 August 2016 – via Newspapers.com. The bullet-pierced body of Pierre Laval was moved today to the mausoleum of the Chambrun family in Montparnasse cemetery from an unmarked grave in Thiais cemetery, where it had lain since the former premier was executed as a traitor a month ago.