Algeria Files - Part 3
SE-S1 · Algerian crowd May 8 1945
May 8 1945. The day Europe celebrated the end of Nazi Germany. The day France massacred Algerians who came out to celebrate with them.
A 14-year-old boy named Saal Bouzid carried an Algerian flag in the parade in Setif. He was shot dead by French police while holding it. What followed was a two-week military operation using aircraft, artillery and naval bombardment. A French general's own classified report described what he had done. The British military counted 6,000 killed. French historians now estimate 15,000 to 45,000. France censored all of it until 1960.
SE-S2 · Early Algerian independence flag
Saal Bouzid · 14 years old · May 8 1945 · Shot holding the Algerian flag02 / 07
A 14-year-old boy named Saal Bouzid carried this flag in the parade. He was shot dead by French police while holding it.
On May 8 1945, Algerians in Setif joined the celebrations marking the end of Nazi Germany in Europe. They marched carrying Algerian flags and banners calling for independence. French police ordered the flags put down.
When Saal Bouzid, 14 years old, refused to surrender his flag he was shot and killed. His death triggered a wider confrontation. French forces, police, settlers and the military then conducted operations across Setif, Guelma and Kherrata over several days.
The French government's initial count was 1,020 killed. French historian Yves Benot documented estimates ranging from 15,000 to 45,000 based on French military archives.
Source: Yves Benot, "Massacres coloniaux," La Decouverte, 1994 · Jean-Louis Planche, "Setif 1945," Perrin, 2006 · Benjamin Stora, "Algeria 1830-2000," Cornell University Press, 2001
SE-S3 · Empty street in Setif today
May 8 to 22 1945 · Named military operations · Aircraft, artillery, naval bombardment03 / 07
What followed was not a riot response. It was a named military operation lasting two weeks, using aircraft, artillery and naval bombardment.
French forces carried out systematic reprisals across the Setif, Guelma and Kherrata regions from May 8 to May 22 1945. The French military deployed aircraft to bomb villages, used artillery against civilian areas and conducted naval bombardment of coastal villages.
Settler militias operated alongside French forces. The operations were ordered and coordinated, not spontaneous. Jean-Louis Planche's 2006 documented history established this through French military archives.
Source: Jean-Louis Planche, "Setif 1945," Perrin, 2006 · Yves Benot, "Massacres coloniaux," La Decouverte, 1994 · Alistair Horne, "A Savage War of Peace," Viking Press, 1978
SE-S4 · General Duval classified military report 1945
General Duval · His own classified report · "I have secured you peace for 10 years"04 / 07
"I have secured you peace for 10 years. If France does nothing, it will all happen again. Only worse." His own words. His own assessment. He was correct.
General Raymond Duval, who commanded French forces during the Setif repression, wrote a classified report describing what he had done and what it meant. He assessed that the repression would buy ten years of peace, not more. If France did not address the underlying political situation, the conflict would return at a larger scale.
He was correct on both counts. The Algerian War of Independence began in November 1954, nine years later. The report was classified. France censored documentation of the Setif massacre until 1960.
Source: General Duval's report cited in Benjamin Stora, "Algeria 1830-2000," Cornell University Press, 2001 · Alistair Horne, "A Savage War of Peace," Viking Press, 1978 · Jean-Louis Planche, "Setif 1945," Perrin, 2006
SE-S5 · Colonial-era French administrative building Algeria
Censored in France · Until 1960 · 15 years of official silence05 / 07
For 15 years France did not acknowledge what happened in Setif. The French press was forbidden from reporting it.
The French government imposed censorship on reporting about the Setif massacre. For 15 years, the French public was not informed through the mainstream press about what had been carried out in their name in Algeria on the day Europe was celebrating liberation from fascism.
Benjamin Stora described it as "a founding trauma that France has never fully processed." The irony of the date, May 8 1945, the day of Nazi Germany's surrender, was not lost on those who documented it.
Source: Benjamin Stora, "Algeria 1830-2000," Cornell University Press, 2001 · Alistair Horne, "A Savage War of Peace," Viking Press, 1978 · Yves Benot, "Massacres coloniaux," La Decouverte, 1994
SE-S6 · British military headquarters log 1945
British staff headquarters · June 4 1945 · Independent count · 6,000 killed06 / 07
The British military counted independently. Their June 4 1945 count: 6,000 killed. France said 1,020. French historians now say 15,000 to 45,000.
A British staff headquarters report dated June 4 1945, independent of French sources, estimated 6,000 Algerians killed in the Setif repression. This represents the lowest independent contemporary count from an external military observer.
The range between the lowest French official figure (1,020) and the highest historical estimate (45,000) is a factor of forty. Jean-Louis Planche's 2006 study concluded with approximately 15,000 to 20,000. The British count at 6,000 falls in the lower range of what historians now consider the documented floor.
Source: British staff headquarters report, June 4 1945, cited in Alistair Horne, "A Savage War of Peace," Viking Press, 1978 · Yves Benot, "Massacres coloniaux," La Decouverte, 1994 · Jean-Louis Planche, "Setif 1945," Perrin, 2006
SE-S7 · Memorial plaque Setif Algeria
The question. Not a claim.07 / 07
May 8 1945. The day the world said never again. The day France killed thousands of Algerians celebrating that same victory. What does it mean that this happened on that day, and that it was censored for 15 years?
Tomorrow: 1954. The FLN founding declaration. General de Bollardiere who resigned rather than torture. 2 million Algerians displaced into camps. The Battle of Algiers banned in France for five years. 1 to 1.5 million dead. Named. On record.
Some stories are buried on purpose. We dig.
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