Macron Entrusts Benjamin Stora With A Mission On The Algerian War

The French authorities officially entrusted the historian, Benjamin Stora, to a mission related to what it called “the memory of colonialism and the war in Algeria”, a statement of the Elysee Palace, signed by the French President Emmanuel Macron, said.

This mission, according to the French presidential statement, aims to promote “reconciliation between the French and Algerian people”, the French Press Agency, AFP, said.

“This mission is expected to result in a fair and accurate presentation of the progress made in France regarding the memory of colonialism and the war in Algeria, and to look at these files on both sides of the Mediterranean”, it added.

This statement surprised the observers because everyone was aware of a previous commission of “Benjaman Stora” about this file, and perhaps this designation is related to the statement issued by the French historian, to Radio France International last Thursday, in which he said that he “is not a representative of the French state”.

“It is important for the history of the Algerian war to be known and seen clearly. It is a matter of the comfort and serenity of those it has harmed”, Macron wrote in a letter instructing Stora, a representative of the French state, to accompany Abdemajid Chikhi on the Algerian side.

According to the assignment letter, the goal of the Memories Dialogue is to “give our youth the possibility to emerge from memory-related conflicts”.

The French President added: “I hope to participate in a new will for reconciliation between the French and Algerian people because the issue of colonialism and the Algerian war has for a long time hampered building a common destiny in the Mediterranean between our two countries”.

The French party’s focus on what it calls “the Algerian war” raises legitimate questions about the characterization of Paris for the historical period covered by the debate on memory, meaning whether it is related to the 132 years that formed throughout the occupation, or does it only mean the seven years, between 1954 and 1962, which is called in the French political and historical literature the “Algerian War”.

Benjamin Stora was born in 1950 in the city of Constantine (eastern Algeria), and he is considered one of the most famous historians and most prominent experts in the history of Algeria, especially the liberation revolution, or what is called in the French political and historical literature as the “Algerian war”, and it led, as is well known, to liberate the country from the yoke of the hateful French occupation.