Algeria Files - Part 4
WA-S1 · Martyrs Monument Algiers
France called it "events." Between 1 and 1.5 million Algerians called it a war.
November 1 1954: the FLN launched simultaneous operations across Algeria and declared independence or armed resistance. What followed was eight years of war France legally refused to name until 1999. Two million Algerians displaced into camps. Systematic torture documented by French officers themselves. One general resigned rather than participate. The film documenting it was banned in France for five years.
WA-S2 · FLN founding declaration November 1 1954
November 1 1954 · FLN founding declaration · Toussaint Rouge02 / 07
November 1 1954. The FLN launched simultaneous operations across Algeria and declared war.
The FLN's founding declaration of November 1 1954 stated its goal: "Restore the Algerian state, sovereign, democratic and social, within the framework of Islamic principles." It offered France one choice: negotiate independence or face armed resistance.
The same night, coordinated attacks targeted French military and police installations across multiple Algerian departments. The French government described them as acts of banditry. The FLN described them as the opening of a war of independence. French law did not recognise the word "war" until 1999.
Source: FLN founding declaration, November 1 1954 · Benjamin Stora, "Algeria 1830-2000," Cornell University Press, 2001 · French law of October 18 1999
WA-S3 · Algerian regroupement camp
Regroupement camps · 1955-1962 · 2 million Algerians displaced03 / 07
France displaced 2 million Algerians into guarded camps to cut the FLN from its civilian base.
The French army's regroupement programme forcibly relocated entire rural communities into fenced and guarded camps, dismantling the civilian networks that provided the FLN with shelter, food and recruits. Alistair Horne documented it as one of the largest forced displacement operations in modern colonial history.
At peak, approximately 2 million Algerians were living in regroupement camps. Communities that had farmed land for generations were removed from it permanently. Benjamin Stora documented the long-term displacement as a factor in post-independence poverty that persisted for decades.
Source: Alistair Horne, "A Savage War of Peace," Viking Press, 1978 · Benjamin Stora, "Algeria 1830-2000," Cornell University Press, 2001
WA-S4 · French military officer uniform jacket
General Paris de Bollardiere · 1957 · Resigned rather than torture04 / 07
General de Bollardiere was a decorated French war hero. In 1957 he resigned rather than implement torture in Algeria.
General Jacques Paris de Bollardiere had served in the French Resistance and in Indochina. In 1957 he wrote publicly to General Massu protesting the systematic use of torture during the Battle of Algiers, stating it was destroying France's moral standing.
He was court-martialled, stripped of his command and sentenced to 60 days in military prison for speaking publicly. He was the only senior French officer to publicly refuse to participate. Alistair Horne confirmed his account in full in "A Savage War of Peace."
Source: General Paris de Bollardiere, open letter to General Massu, 1957, cited in Alistair Horne, "A Savage War of Peace," Viking Press, 1978
WA-S5 · The Battle of Algiers poster 1966
The Battle of Algiers · Gillo Pontecorvo · 1966 · Banned in France 5 years05 / 07
Gillo Pontecorvo filmed what happened. France banned it for five years. The Pentagon screened it after September 11.
The Battle of Algiers, shot in 1966, documented French military torture and FLN resistance in Algiers 1956-57. France banned it until 1971. It won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1966.
The New York Times reported on August 27 2003 that the US Department of Defense screened the film for Pentagon officials and congressional staffers as a case study in counterinsurgency and the consequences of torture. The screening was described as a way to understand "the risks of winning tactical battles while losing moral authority."
Source: New York Times, August 27 2003, "Film on Algerian War Revived by Pentagon" · Mark Kurlansky, "1968," Random House, 2004
WA-S6 · Evian Accords document March 18 1962
Evian Accords · March 18 1962 · End of war · 1 to 1.5 million dead06 / 07
March 18 1962. The Evian Accords ended the war France had refused to call a war for 8 years.
French law called the Algerian War "operations for the maintenance of order" until a law passed on October 18 1999 officially recognised the term "Algerian War." The conflict had ended 37 years earlier.
Historians Benjamin Stora and Yves Benot document between 1 and 1.5 million Algerians killed across the eight years of conflict. The OAS, a French settler and military splinter group, carried out assassinations and bombings in France itself after Evian, attempting to prevent Algerian independence by force.
Source: Benjamin Stora, "Algeria 1830-2000," Cornell University Press, 2001 · Yves Benot, "Massacres coloniaux," La Decouverte, 1994 · French law of October 18 1999
WA-S7 · Algerian martyrs cemetery
The question. Not a claim.07 / 07
1 to 1.5 million dead. 2 million displaced. Torture that a general resigned rather than implement. France called it "events" until 1999. What does that word choice cost, and who paid it?
Next week: the nuclear tests France conducted on Algerian soil between 1960 and 1966. Seventeen tests. Four atmospheric. Tests continued after independence without Algerian consent. The contamination documented. The cleanup France was asked to do and did not.
Some stories are buried on purpose. We dig.
Two new stories every weekFollow UNSILENCED.