Bruno David: “Algerian Martyrs’ Skulls displayed At Paris Museum Of Man Belong to French State”

The Director of the Museum of Man in Paris in Paris has rejected a request from the Movement of Algerian nationals in France to return to Algeria skulls of Algerian resistance fighters now shamelessly displayed at the Museum, stressing that the contents of the Museum is owned by the French State, as he put it.

This rejection came through the reply by the Director of Musée de l’Homme in Paris, Bruno David, dated 17 February 2017 and addressed to the General Coordinator of the Movement of Algerian nationals in France, Mr Omar Ait Mokhtar, of which “Echorouk” holds a copy.

Museum’s Director Bruno David said that “he would like to provide a realistic and regulatory clarification on the questions contained in the request submitted by the Algerian movement of citizens, noting that the museum has a scientific, professional and cultural character of a public institution, and is linked with a partnership between the Ministries of Higher Education and the Environment, thus, he claimed, that every content held by the Museum is owned by the French State”.

He added that “the preserved collections in the museum are conserved according to public property law for persons of public law and heritage”.

As a recall, Bruno David, the president of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, recently discussed the complexity of the process of restitution of the skulls of the Algerian resistance fighters eagerly demanded by Algeria. 

Observers note that in this line that Bruno David is only the president of the Museum, nothing but that. A purely honorary post to which he was appointed by presidential decree of 20 July 2015, published in the Official Journal of 22 July (JORF No. 0167), President of the National Museum of Natural History, since 1 September 2015.

The decision to hand over the skulls or not to hand them over is not his. He merely repeats what has been said at all times in the Museum by all the officials met on the spot.

The days pass and resemble each other. Bruno David is not a minister, and even if he were, the affair of the Museum of Man is above his head as the relevant decision is eminently political.

On the official Algerian side, the Minister of Mujahideen Tayeb Zitouni said that his ministry is determined to reach a satisfying solution in the negotiations over the repatriation and the burial of the skulls of the Algerian popular resistance activists killed by French colonial forces during the 19th century.

“The Mujahideen Ministry is working with the Foreign Ministry for the repatriation of the skulls of Algerian fighters who died in the beginning of the colonial period, and which are currently shamelessly displayed at the Paris Musée de l’Homme (Museum of Man),” Mr Zitouni stated.

“We are polling efforts with the Foreign Affairs Ministry which has assigned the Algerian Ambassador to France to re-launch the stalled negotiations,” he indicated.

A petition launched in 2011 in France for the return of remains to Algeria has collected 1,600 signatures until 7 July 2016

The Association “Machaal Echahid” also launched, last July, a petition demanding the return to Algeria of the skulls of the valiant Algerian freedom fighters killed by the French occupier during the early years of the brutal French colonial yoke.