What death has that is monumental, unexpected and collective, such is the subject of this work. He approaches collective deaths through a sociological perspective, the central question being: does not the death of a collective of men, in addition to the usual treatments, give rise to specific reactions and practices linked to the collective character of these deaths? From this point of view, this death would be collective because it generates an original treatment different from “ordinary” deaths. This research builds on a body of twenty major accidents have occurred on French territory 20th century. The oldest is that of the fire of the Bazar de la Charité in 1897, the deadliest those of the Courrières mines in 1906 and the rupture of the Malpasset dam in 1959, the most recent that of the fire of the Mont tunnel. -Blanc in 1999.Social dangers, emotional reactions, mourning rituals and the construction of a collective memory are studied. Today collective deaths can no longer be explained by divine vengeance or a furious Nature, it is human responsibility that is in question. This raises the almost insoluble |