The station opened on 23 February 1903 under the name Rue d'Allemagne. On 1 August 1914, two days before the declaration of war with Germany, it was renamed. It took its present name from Jean Jaurès, who was assassinated on 31 July 1914. Jean Jaurès (1859 - 1914) was a French socialist leader and anti-militarist who wanted to stop World War I.
The station is situated on the border of the 10th and 19th arrondissements. It is served by the metro lines 2, 5 and 7bis.
The station has two underground and one elevated set of platforms. The elevated platforms are built with bricks and supported by steel beams.
Photographs by Bruce Gilden have been suspended between the pillars holding up the platform and tracks.
Outside stairs to the elevated platforms of line 2.
The pillars are slimmer, smooth and painted beige.
The silver pillars are decorated at the top with motives of winged globes.
The pillars have a ribbed appearance.
Stairs from the underground platforms. The walls are tiled in white.
Handrails have been fixed to the walls.
Corridor from the underground platforms. The walls are tiled to about shoulder-height. Advertising has been placed in white ceramic frames.
The ceiling is made of panels with ceiling windows to let light through.
Brown border tiles.
Each of the tiles has three squares with what looks like stylised hydrangeas.
Platform Line 2
Line 2 started operation on 23 February 1903. The station is an elevated station.
The windows on this platform are decorated with stain-glass flags.
The platform has no advertising panels.
Each platform is covered with a frosted glass ceiling supported by silver right-angle, steel beams. The tracks are not covered.
The "walls" are large windows.
Some light blue and yellow plastic seats have been fixed to the ground near the windows.
The signage is placed on a frame in front of the large windows. It consists of white mixed case letters on a blue plasticised sign. Underneath it are are map of the transport network with zones, and a map of the bus and tram network.
The walls under the windows are tiled in flat, white tiles.
Platform Line 5
Line 5 started operation on 12 October 1942.
The vaulted ceiling and the walls are tiled in white tiles with a raised centre.
The lights are in the Bruno-Gaudin style.
Dark brown wooden benches have been fixed to the walls under the ceramic advertising frames.
The dark brown advertising frames have a geometric pattern with a capital letter M. The company CMP (Companie de chemin de fer métropolitain de Paris), who operated the line introduced this design in the late 40s.
The advertising frames curve with the wall.
The signage on this platform is made of a panel of dark blue ceramic tiles, 8 high, on which the station name has been burnt in white, It is in a slim white frame made from white tiles.
Access to the platform is from the end of the platform.
Platform Line 7bis
The line started operation on 18 January 1911 as line 7. It was transferred to the newly created line 7bis on 3 December 1967.
Entrance to the platform is from the end.
The vaulted ceiling is tiled.
The silver lights are in Bruno-Gaudin style: the lights on the lower level reflect on the metal of the upper level.
The edge of the platform is marked with a thick white line and a row of white plastic tiles with raised circles.
Orange metal half-bowl seats with a "Smiley" design have been attached to the ground with a silver metal bar.
The frames of the advertising boards behind the seats is made of white ceramic tiles.
The walls are tiled in Metro-style - white rectangular tiles with raised centres.
The signage is in mixed case white letters on a blue sign. Below the sign are three maps. The left map is a map of the transport network with zones. The middle map is a map of the tram and bus network and the right map is a map of the local area.
The tracks are between the two platforms.
The edge of the platform is marked in white. A row of about 30 cm wide white, nobbed tiles has been added to warn sight-impaired travellers of the edge. The rest of the floor is painted grey.