May 8, 1945: This day has gone down in history as the day of the Nazi
surrender, twelve years after their inauguration and six years after theoutbreak of the deadliest conflict the world has ever known. But May 8,
1945, was also the date of the beginning of a massive colonial massacre,
which lasted several weeks, perpetrated by the French Army and colonial
auxiliaries in Algeria. In Sétif, Guelma, and Kherrata, the state
bloodily suppressed nationalist demonstrations. A look back at the other
May 8, 1945.
As historian Yves Benot points out, for France and Algeria, May 8, 1945,
embodies two opposing memories: "May 8 is a date that is still vivid in
both France and Algeria, but with opposing meanings." In France, he
evoked the Liberation completed; in Algeria, the demand for a Liberation
yet to be achieved, a demand stifled this time in blood. A demand of the
entire Algerian people, but the repression was concentrated around Sétif
and Guelma, in the Constantine region. [1]
On that day, in Sétif, Guelma, and Kherrata, France bloodily repressed
the demonstrations whenever Algerian flags were waved. Liberation for
the French, not for Algerians. The bloody repression, which lasted
several weeks, marked a turning point in the expression of Algerian
nationalism. From then on, the peaceful and reformist path was no longer
an option; faced with an intransigent colonial state, the path to
independence would henceforth be written with weapons in hand.
A Broken Promise
The events of May 8 were part of an anti-colonial movement that had
accelerated during the global conflict. On August 14, 1941, the Atlantic
Charter, signed by Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945) and Winston
Churchill (1874-1965), was promulgated. In it, the two politicians
declared their respect for "the right of all peoples to choose the form
of government under which they live; and [desire] to see the restoration
of sovereign rights to those who have been deprived of them by force."
This charter was immediately interpreted by Algerian nationalists as
support for the principle of self-determination. The expectation of
political reforms was clear, especially since it was in keeping with the
"direction of history." The Brazzaville Conference, organized in January
1944 by the French Committee for National Liberation, also discussed
reforms in the French colonies, while explicitly rejecting the idea of
autonomy or independence, asserting that the "civilizing mission of
France" must continue. Finally, the ordinance of March 7, 1944,
promulgated by the Provisional Government, which purported to repeal the
Native Code and announced new rights for Algerians, gave rise to renewed
hope.
A 1960 stamp of the French colonial republic depicting the Kherrata
Gorges. Until May 24, 1945, hundreds of people were shot one by one in
and around Kherrata before being thrown, dead or alive, into the ravines
of these gorges. The Algerian nationalist movement grew stronger during
this period, especially as the administration of Algerian territory
under Vichy was particularly harsh. The "National Revolution," its
desire to create a "new man" and to fight against "anti-France," was
zealously pursued, especially since, following the signing of the
armistice of June 22, 1940, and the creation of an occupied zone
covering more than half of mainland France, Algeria appeared "as a
refuge for French sovereignty" [2].
Under the leadership of General Weygand, a "colonial Vichyism in
Algeria" [3] was formed, eager to stir up a "counter-revolutionary
wind." Tensions increased in the months following the Allied landings in
North Africa in November 1942: the myth of the all-powerful colonizer
collapsed, and the nationalist movement, although harshly repressed by
the Vichy police, grew stronger at the grassroots level.
In 1943, the moderate nationalist leader Ferhat Abbas (1899-1985)
published the Manifesto of the Algerian People, which called for a new
status for the "Algerian nation," and subsequently created the Friends
of the Manifesto and Freedom (AML). Their demands echoed those of
Messali Hadj (1898-1974), a pioneer of Algerian independence and founder
of the Algerian People's Party (PPA), who had been imprisoned since 1941.
Rising Tensions
On April 2, 1945, at the AML congress, a motion was adopted calling for
the release of Messali Hadj, recognized as the "undisputed leader of the
Algerian people." On April 18, when a delegation of PPA members came to
the Prefect to demand his release, a riot broke out in Ksar Chellala,
where he had been imprisoned since the beginning of the year. The PPA
and the AML jointly called for nationalist demonstrations on May 1,
particularly in the cities of Algiers, Oran, Sétif, and Tébessa,
separate from the CGT union marches (although it was planned to join the
union march at the end of the demonstration in Algiers).
A pro-independence leader, Messali Hadj campaigned for Algerian
independence since 1927. The Voice of the People
Tensions escalated into clashes with law enforcement, resulting in
several deaths and injuries among the protesters: four people were
killed in Algiers, and several others died fatally in the following
days, another died in Oran; the number of injured numbered in the
hundreds [4]. A raised (banned) Algerian flag [5] and slogans demanding
freedom [6] were enough for the colonial authorities to open fire. A
week later, on May 8, the AML and the PPA again called for
demonstrations, particularly in the Constantine region, for the release
of Messali Hadj, who, following the incidents at Ksar Chellala, had been
deported to Brazzaville (Congo).
A Bloody Turning Point
On May 7, the anticipated announcement of the signing of the surrender
of the Third Reich spread. Demonstrations celebrating the end of the war
were organized throughout the country, in mainland France and also in
Algeria. The PPA, although banned since 1939, still called for
demonstrations. These demonstrations were to be characterized by "the
Algerian flag placed among the Allied flags, and banners with slogans
such as: 'Free Algeria!' (or 'independent'); 'Free Messali Hadj'" [7].
In Sétif, Ferhat Abbas's hometown, the AML did not call for a
demonstration: the Muslim Scouts, a legal organization created by
members of the PPA, held the lead banner. The demonstration left the
Muslim neighborhoods for the war memorial, located in the European part
of the city, where a wreath was to be laid. Sub-Prefect Butterlin warned
that "there must be no banners with slogans and, of course, no Algerian
flags" [8]. When he learned that "subversive banners" were indeed
present, he ordered them "to be removed," even if it meant "a fight." In
the context of the events of the previous week, this meant that it could
come at the cost of more deaths... and this was precisely what happened
when a police commissioner tried to force an Algerian flag down from its
bearer, who refused and raised it even higher. Bouziz Saal, a
26-year-old member of the Muslim Scouts, was shot dead by a police
officer. He was the first in a long series of deaths that would last
several weeks.
Algerian national flag of the PPA carried by Bouzid Saâl during the
demonstration of May 8, 1945, in Sétif (Moujahid Museum of Sétif). CC
BY-SA 4.0
Like a game of dominoes, the first man shot triggers a chain of events
that culminate in a massive massacre. The first gunshot leads to several
more, and the crowd disperses. While some of the Muslim demonstrators
decide to continue toward the war memorial, where they are greeted by
armed gendarmes who are pelted with stones, another group rages against
the Europeans they encounter along the way.
In half an hour, 21 Europeans have lost their lives, according to an
official report; the number of victims on the Algerian side is
uncounted! The sub-prefect decides to call on companies of Algerian
riflemen, with French supervision, to quell the rebellion. On the
morning of May 8 in Algiers, while the shootings in Sétif were still
unknown to the population, Ferhat Abbas, who had come to present the
AML's congratulations to the Governor General—the socialist
Chataigneau—for the Allied victory, was arrested by the director of
military security on charges of conspiracy against state security.
A Deadly Escalation
While "order" was quickly restored in the city of Sétif, the same could
not be said beyond that. Like wildfire, news of the shots fired against
the protesters spread like wildfire that morning to the surrounding
villages and towns along the road from Sétif to the sea. In Guelma,
official demonstrations were not scheduled until late afternoon. But
when Sub-Prefect Achiary and the officials found themselves facing a
crowd of Muslim demonstrators, shots were fired. Here too, the first to
fall was the bearer of the Algerian flag.
The crowd responded by throwing stones and injuring police officers, but
no Europeans were killed. Regardless, an offense had been committed
against the colonial power. The Sub-Prefect ordered the immediate
closure of the cafes and established a curfew. He also ordered the
formation of a militia of European settlers consisting of "150 reliable
men." Arrests and summary executions began. But when Algerian farmers
from the surrounding area gathered on the outskirts of the town, it was
the air force that machine-gunned and bombed them. From then on, the
Army was responsible for "maintaining order."
Rare photo of a rally organized by the PPA in the early 1940s.
Wikimedia Commons
For more than a month, the "dissidents," as General Henry Martin, the
senior commander of the troops in Algeria, called them, were pushed back
into the mountains and mercilessly hunted down. Guelma remained an
important point of resistance for Algerians, who resisted for almost a
month despite an intense search by military troops. The number of deaths
on the Algerian side is still unknown to this day. Estimates vary from
tenfold to tenfold, and even more: from 3,000 to 30,000, according to
most historians; 45,000 is the figure announced at the time by the PPA.
Remembering these massacres also means not forgetting these unknown
deaths, or at least those whom history will never recognize, because
they were on the Algerian side [9]. The rest is history. A war that
would not end until 1962 and which would lead to multiple massacres and
acts of torture in the name of France.
For years, political scientist Olivier Le Cour Grandmaison has been
fighting for the proper recognition of this other May 8, 1945 [10]. At a
time of a shift in the far right, it is our duty to recall these
massacres committed in the name of France's great "civilizing work."
Yes, massacres on the scale of several Ouradour massacres were committed
on Algerian soil. No, these massacres were not committed by Nazis but by
the French Army. Not recognizing this is a second insult to the dead who
demanded only the right to self-determination, freedom, equality... A
legacy of a certain Revolution hated by all reactionaries, so fond of a
great national novel free from any stain.
David (friend of AL)
Validate
[1] Yves Benot, Colonial Massacres. 1944-1950: The Fourth Republic and
the Subjugation of the French Colonies, La Découverte, 1994, p. 9.
[2] Jacques Cantier, "Vichy and Algeria, 1940-1942," in Abderrahmane
Bouchène, Jean-Pierre Peyroulou, Ouanassa Siari Tengour, and Sylvie
Thénault (eds.), History of Algeria in the Colonial Period, La
Découverte, 2014.
[3] The expression is from the historian Jacques Cantier.
[4] "In Algiers, on May 1, 1945, four dead and several wounded at the
patriotic demonstration organized by the Algerian People's Party (PPA),"
Association of Former Conscripts in Algeria and Their Friends Against
the War (4ACG), 4acg.org.
[5] According to accounts, Émilie Busquant, Messali Hadj's companion and
an anarcho-syndicalist, feminist, and anti-colonialist activist, is
responsible for making the PPA's first Algerian flag.
[6] "The instructions given were very strict: no weapons, 'not even a
pin,'" the leaders formally recommended to avoid any provocation. The
slogans issued were precise and few in number. One proclaimed 'Freedom
for All,' and another, which recurs very frequently, called for the
release of political prisoners, particularly Messali Hadj. During the
demonstration, suddenly, more or less spontaneously, a liberating cry,
soon chanted by the entire crowd: "Yahia el Istiqlal!" (Long live
Independence) and, suddenly above their heads, the banned Algerian flag
was waved. ", Mohamed Rebah, "May 1, 1945, demonstration and bloody
repression in Algiers," babzman.com.
[7] Yves Benot, op. cit., pp. 9-10.
[8] Yves Benot, op. cit., p. 10.
[9] In this regard, Yves Benot points out that "The Minister of the
Interior, the socialist Adrien Tixier, announced on July 18, at the
Provisional Consultative Assembly in Paris, that the victims would
amount to around 1,500, while in Algeria, the nationalists spoke of tens
of thousands of deaths. On June 28, Le Populaire reported 6,000 to 8,000
Algerian deaths, while the often-repeated figure of 45,000 deaths
gradually emerged. As for the Europeans—in fact, only French, with the
exception of three "natives" killed in the army and two Italian
prisoners of war—we know with certainty that 102 were killed, including
14 soldiers. Beyond the deaths, the precision of the data concerning the
colonizers compared to the exasperating vagueness of those concerning
the colonized marks the radical opposition of what were then called
"communities."
[10] Olivier Le Cour Grandmaison, "Massacres of May 8, 1945 in Algeria:
80th Anniversary and Indispensable Recognition," blogs.mediapart.fr.
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Un-autre-8-mai-1945-Les-massacres-de-Setif-Guelma-et-Kherrata
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