A French Non-Governmental Initiative To “Move” The Burning Memory File

The burning issue of the brutal practices of the French occupation in Algeria has returned to the forefront, especially the atrocities of torture that were systematic during the national liberation revolution, a file that remained silent until part of it was revealed and the demand turned into the French state bearing responsibility for these heinous crimes committed in its name.
In this context, French human rights activists and non-governmental organizations demanded that Paris acknowledge its responsibility for the use of torture during the “Algerian War” (1954-1962), as it is called in French historical literature, and the Algerian Liberation Revolution, according to Algerian literature.
In a letter addressed to the French presidency, they stated: “Following the path of understanding the spiral of oppression that led to the use of torture, of which rape is a constitutive tool (…) is not an act of remorse, but rather an act of trust in the values of the nation. This came at a time when the work of the joint Algerian-French committee to discuss the memory file was being called into question.
This step was preceded by an initiative of the Elysee Palace, which stated in a press release on October 18, 2022: “We are clearly aware that in this war, a ‘minority’ of combatants spread terror and committed torture”. This was considered “an important and courageous recognition, but it is incomplete because it does not define a set of responsibilities, especially at the highest level of the French state,” according to Nils Anderson, president of the Anti-Colonial Action Association Today, which is one of the signatories upon request.
He added: “It is not a matter of condemnation or judgment, but of looking at history directly, in order to calm down (the war of memory)”. “This will allow us to take the next step: to understand how this was possible and to move forward with coexistence. This is important because the Algerian question is sensitive in French opinion.”
According to the statement, after what had long been called “events” in Algeria (France considered the war in Algeria to be merely events), “torture as a system of war was theorized, taught, practiced, covered up and exported by French governments that bear the full responsibility of the state.”
The editors of the statement dropped a bombshell by claiming that torture “has been taught since 1955” in the main French military schools, such as “Saint-Cyr”, and that those who opposed it during the Algerian war “were condemned”, citing the testimonies of some who were tortured by the French army, such as the activist Henry Allaq in 1958, in a shocking book that was immediately banned, entitled “The Question”. However, the matter came to light more than four decades later when the criminal General Paul Aussares confessed to practicing torture.
The human rights organizations that signed the declaration, which was not received by the French presidency, were forced to publish many testimonies of people who were subjected to torture during the National Liberation Revolution, including one of the victims who was arrested in October 1957 and who submitted a letter to the public prosecutor in Lyon: “We have suffered the most terrible violations,” speaking of torture in the bathtub and electrocution of the genitals.
This message comes at a time when the negotiations between the teams of Algerian and French historians in charge of studying the file of memory are in a state of doubt. Since the last meeting that brought them together in the French capital, Paris, on January 25, no other date has been set, while previous meetings did not achieve any indication of the existence of it, with the exception of the handover of copies and videos of archive files, with the head of the committee on the French side, Benjamin Stora, suggesting that there are political obstacles, such as the approval by the French parties of a law voted by the French parliament in exchange for the handover of the looted Algerian archive stored in French cellars.