Paris massacre of 1961

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For the 1572 events, see St. Bartholomew's Day massacre

The Paris massacre of 1961 refers to a massacre in Paris on 17 October 1961, during the Algerian War (1954–62). Under orders from the head of the Parisian police, Maurice Papon, the French police attacked an unarmed and peaceful demonstration of some 30,000 Algerians. The French government acknowledged 40 deaths in 1998, although there are estimates of up to 200.

The 17 October 1961 massacre appears to have been intentional, as has been demonstrated by historian Jean-Luc Einaudi, who won a trial against Maurice Papon in 1999 — the latter was convicted in 1998 on charges of crimes against humanity due to his role under the Vichy collaborationist regime during the Second World War. Official documentation and eyewitnesses within the Paris police department indeed suggest that the massacre was directed by its police chief, Maurice Papon. Police records show that Papon called for officers in one station to be 'subversive' in quelling the demonstrations, and assured them protection from prosecution if they participated.[1] Many demonstrators died when they were violently herded by police into the River Seine, with some thrown from bridges after being beaten unconscious. Other demonstrators were killed within the courtyard of the Paris police headquarters after being arrested and delivered there in police buses. Officers who participated in the courtyard killings took the precaution of removing identification numbers from their uniforms, while senior officers ignored pleas by other policemen who were shocked when witnessing the brutality. Silence regarding the events within the police headquarters was further enforced by threats of reprisals from participating officers.

Forty years later, Bertrand Delanoë, member of the Socialist Party (PS) and Mayor of Paris, put a plaque in remembrance of the massacre on the Saint-Michel bridge on 17 October 2001.[2][3] How many demonstrators were killed is still unclear, but estimates range from 70 to 200 people (See below). In the absence of official estimates, the placard which commemorates the massacre stated: "In memory of the many Algerians killed during the bloody repression of the peaceful demonstration of 17 October 1961". On 18 February 2007 (the day after Papon's death), calls were made for a Paris Métro station in construction in Gennevilliers to be named "17 Octobre 1961" in commemoration of the massacre[4][5].

Contents

[edit] Background

Further information: Algerian War

The 17 October 1961 massacre took place in the context of the Algerian War (1954-62), which had become more and more violent over the years. After de Gaulle's equivocal return to power during the May 1958 crisis and his sudden change of policy concerning Algerian independence, the OAS used all possible means to oppose the National Liberation Front (FLN), which took the war to the metropolis where it was helped by some activists such as the Jeanson network. The repression by French authorities, both in Algeria and in metropolitan France, was very harsh.

[edit] The French National Police

Further information: French National Police  and Vel'd'hiv Raid

According to historian Jean-Luc Einaudi, a specialist in the 17 October 1961 massacre, some of the causes of the violent repression of the 17 October 1961 demonstration can best be understood in terms of the composition of the French police force itself, which still included many former members of the force in place during the WWII Vichy regime which had collaborated with the Gestapo to detain Jews, as for example in the 16 July 1942 Vel'd'hiv Raid.

The vast majority of police officers suspended after the Liberation of Paris in 1944 for extreme forms of collaborationism (including assistance to the thugs of the Parti Populaire Français and similar groups) were later reintegrated into the police forces. In contrast, the few policemen who had been part of the Resistance movement had their career advancement blocked because of anti-communism, since the Resistance was mainly communist and communist ministers had been expelled from the government in May 1947. Moreover, even police officers who had been members of the Resistance might well have taken part in the various raids against Jews and other persecuted groups during the Vichy regime, as otherwise they would have been dismissed, according to J.-L. Einaudi and Maurice Rajsfus.

The career of Maurice Papon as Head of Paris' police force in the 1960s and Minister of Finance under Valéry Giscard d'Estaing's presidency in the 1970s, suggests that there was institutional racism in the French police until at least the 1960s. In fact Papon was not charged and convicted until 1997-98 for his crimes against humanity in being responsible in the deportation of 1,560 Jews, including children and the elderly, between 1942 and 1944.

[edit] The nomination of Maurice Papon as the head of the Prefecture of Police (March 1958)

Further information: Maurice Papon

Before his nomination as chief of the Paris police, Papon was since 1956 prefect of the Constantine department in Algeria, where he actively participated in the repression and the use of torture against the civilian population.[6] On 13 March 1958, 7,000 policemen demonstrated in the courtyard of the Police headquarters, against the delays in the "risque prime" accorded to them because of the war — although the FLN had not yet begun to target police officers at this time.[7] Encouraged by far right deputy Jean-Marie Le Pen, 2,000 of them attempted to enter the Palais Bourbon, seat of the National Assembly, with shouts of "Sales Juifs! A la Seine! Mort aux fellaghas!" (insulting Jews and Arabs, literally Dirty Jews! Into the Seine (river)! Death to the(Algerian) rebels!). With the recommendation of Minister of Interior Maurice Bourgès-Maunoury, Maurice Papon was named the next day as prefect of the police. Two years earlier, in Constantine, Algeria, he had assumed the role of "Inspecteur général pour l'administration en mission extraordinaire" (IGAME - General Inspector for the Administration on Extraordinary Mission). "Prohibited zones, detention centers ('camps de regroupements'), torture, executions without trial: this is the reality of the war he [Papon] was supervising out there." According to Einaudi, in the following years, he would apply to Paris and to the Seine department the methods generalized in Algeria.[8]

After the May 1958 crisis and the installation of the new Fifth Republic under Charles de Gaulle's leadership, Maurice Papon was kept on by the Resistance hero. Papon created the 'compagnies de district' (district companies), police forces which specialized in repression, where new police recruits were trained. These district companies were mainly formed from veterans from the Indochina War (1947-54) or young people coming back from Algeria.

[edit] The August 1958 raids

On 25 August 1958, an FLN guerilla offensive in Paris killed three policemen on boulevard de l'Hôpital in the XIIIe arrondissement and another in front of the cartoucherie de Vincennes. Prefect of police. Maurice Papon organized in retaliation massive raids on Algerian people in Paris and its suburbs. More than 5,000 Algerians were detained in the former Beaujon hospital, in the Japy gymnasium (XIe arrondissement) and in the Vél'd'Hiv — the Japy gymnasium as the Vél'd'Hiv had been used as detention centers under Pétain's collaborationist regime.[9] A former member of the FTP resistance, reporter Madeleine Rifaud then wrote in L'Humanité:

"In the past two days, a racist concentration camp has been opened in Paris. They have not even had the good sense to choose a site which would not remind French patriots who are currently celebrating the anniversary of the Liberation of Paris of what took place there"[10]

[edit] The creation of the CIV and of the FPA militia (1959-1960)

According to Einaudi, "Already at this time, policemen [were] boasting about throwing Algerians in the Seine" river[11]. Vincennes' Identification Centre (CIV - Centre d'identification de Vincennes) was then created under the authority of the prefecture of police in January 1959. Algerians detained during police raids in the Paris region could be brought there for identity verifications but could also be put under house arrest by the police prefect. "These raids were frequently the occasion of violence." Einaudi stated.[12]

The Auxiliary Police Force (FPA - Force de police auxiliaire) was then created in 1959. This special constabulary force, put under the authority of the Algerian Affairs Coordination Centre of the Prefecture of Police (Centre de coordination des Affaires algériennes de la préfecture de police) and supervised by the military, was under the control of the police prefect, Maurice Papon. Led by Captain Raymond Montaner and based at the Fort de Noisy, Romainville, it was composed entirely of Algerian Muslims- recruited either in Algeria or in France. In autumn 1960, the FPA was composed of 600 members. It first operated in the XIIIe arrondissement where it requisitioned cafe-hotels. Torture is rumoured to have been utilised most notably at 9, rue Harvey and 208, rue du Château des Rentiers... Disappearances took place. The FPA then extended its action to the XVIIIe arrondissement, where three hotels were requisitionned in rue de la Goutte-d'Or. The FPA was also active in the suburbs, from the summer of 1961, in particular in Nanterre's bidonvilles. Some voices were opposed to these crimes denied by the police prefecture".[13] Christian magazine Témoignage Chrétien wrote: "It is not possible to stay mute when, in our Paris, men are resurrecting the methods of the Gestapo".[14]

[edit] Autumn 1961

The FLN decided to resume bombings against the French police at the end of August 1961; from the end of August 1961 to the beginning of October 1961, 11 policemen were killed and 17 injured (in Paris and its suburbs). "These bombings had the effect of spreading fear throughout the ranks of the Paris police, but also for increasing the desire for revenge and hate against the whole of the community. During the whole of September, the Algerian population was severely repressed. In practice, this massive repression was based on physical appearance", according to Einaudi.[15] Daily raids against Algerians — frequently confusing any Magreb people (Moroccans or Tunisians), and even Spanish or Italian immigrants, with Algerians. — Algerians were arrested at work or in the streets and were thrown into the Seine with their hands tied in order to drown them, among other the methods used for this repression, as shown for example by a report published by the priest, Joseph Kerlan, from the Mission de France[16]

According to historian Einaudi, "It was in this climate that, on 2 October, during the funerals of a policeman killed by the FLN, the police prefect [Papon] proclaimed, in the prefecture's courtyard: "For one hit taken we shall give back ten!" This call [was] an encouragement to kill Algerians and [was] immediately understood as such. On the same day, visiting Montrouge's police station, the prefect of police declared to the police officers present: "You also must be subversive in the war that sets you against others. You will be covered, I give you my word on that."[17]

[edit] Events

On 5 October 1961, the prefecture of police, whose chief was Maurice Papon, announced in a press statement the introduction of a curfew from 8.30 p.m. to 5.30 a.m. in Paris and its suburbs for "Algerian Muslim workers", "French Muslims" and "French Muslims of Algeria" (all three terms used by Papon, although the approximately 150,000 Algerians living at the time in Paris were officially considered French and possessed a French identity card). The French Federation of the FLN thus called upon the whole of the Algerian population in Paris, men, women and children, to demonstrate peacefully against the curfew, widely regarded as a racist administrative measure, on 17 October 1961. According to historian Jean-Luc Einaudi, the head of the police, Maurice Papon, had 7,000 policemen, 1,400 CRS and gendarmes mobiles (riot police) to block this demonstration, to which the Prefecture of Police had not given its agreement (mandatory for legal demonstrations). The police forces thus blocked all access to the capital, metro stations, train stations, Paris' Portes, etc. Of a population of about 150,000 Algerians living in Paris, 30,000-40,000 of them managed to join the demonstration however. Police raids were carried out all over the city. 11,000 persons were arrested, and transported by RATP bus to the Parc des Expositions and other internment centers used under Vichy.[1] Those detained included not only Algerians, but also Moroccans, Tunisians, Spanish and Italian immigrants, who were then sent to the various police stations, to the courtyard of the police prefecture, the Palais des Sports of Porte de Versailles (XVe arrondissement), and the Stade Coubertin, etc.

Despite these raids, 4,000 to 5,000 people succeeded in demonstrating peacefully on the Grands Boulevards from République to Opéra, without incident. Blocked at Opéra by police forces, the demonstrators backtracked. Reaching the Rex cinema (at the same site as the Rex Club on the current "Grands Boulevards"), the police opened fire on the crowd and charged, leading to several deaths. On the Neuilly bridge (separating Paris from the suburbs), the police detachments and FPA members also shot at the crowd, killing some. Algerians were thrown into and drowned in the Seine at points across the city and its suburbs, most notably at the Saint-Michel bridge in the centre of Paris and near the Prefecture of Police, very close to Notre Dame de Paris.

"During the night, a massacre took place in the courtyard of the police headquarters, killing tens of victims. In the Palais des Sports, then in the "Palais des Expositions of Porte de Versailles", detained Algerians, many by now already injured, [became] systematic victims of a 'welcoming committee'. In these places, considerable violence took place and prisoners were tortured. Men would be dying there until the end of the week. Similar scenes took place in the Coubertin stadium... The raids, violence and drownings would be continued over the following days. For several weeks, unidentified corpses were discovered along the banks of the river. The result of the massacre may be estimated to at least 200 dead".[18]

In 1961, the police prefecture spoke only of "2 persons shot dead".[19] Following historian Jean-Luc Einaudi's testimony during the Papon trial, left-wing Minister Jean-Pierre Chevènement ordered the opening of parts of the archives. The resulting Mandelken Report, based on the investigation of these (partial) archives, counted 32 dead. Einaudi then published an op-ed in Le Monde on May 20, 1998, contesting this official figure, criticizing both the methodology of the report and the consulted archives. He attracted attention on the fact that many archives had been destroyed. A report that Papon had prepared for Interior Minister Roger Frey, the prime minister and the head of government, Charles de Gaulle, was not included in the consulted archives. Besides, the Mandelken report ignored the massacre that had taken place in the courtyard of the Police prefecture, while Papon's name itself appeared nowhere in the report. Einaudi concluded his op-ed stating that: "on the night of October 17, 1961 there had been a massacre perpetrated by the police forces acting on the orders of Maurice Papon." Papon subsequently deposed in February 1999, a courtsuit against him, because of this sentence, alleging defamation of a public servant. In the meanwhile, the state acknowledged in 1998 the massacre and spoke of 40 dead. Responding to Papon's request, the court gave an (as often) ambiguous judgement, which, while claiming that Einaudi had "defamed" Papon, also recognized on one hand that he had acted on "good faith", and, more importantly, on the other hand praised the "seriousness and quality" of Einaudi's research.[20] Both Papon and Einaudi were thus preserved by the court's judgement (one should note the specificities of the French juridical system, which has often been blamed for lack of separation of powers and being subjected to pressions from the executive power, a theme which comes again and again, for example concerning the trials about the corruption scandals in the Paris region or the one, still pending, concerning the Taiwan frigates scandal — Le Canard enchaîné details, weeks after weeks, such pressions on the judiciary system, also denounced by the Syndicat de la magistrature trade-union).

Whatever the case, the French government commission in 1998 then claimed only 48 people died. The historian Jean-Luc Einaudi (La Bataille de Paris, Paris: Seuil, 1991) asserted that as many as 200 Algerians had been killed.

The historian Jean-Paul Brunet found satisfactory evidence for the murder of 31 Algerians, while suggesting that a number of up to 50 actual victims was credible.[21]

However, this contradicts David Assouline, who was granted in 1997 limited access to consult part of the police documents (which were supposed to be classified until 2012) by Minister of Culture Catherine Trautmann (PS). Indeed, with only limited access, he found a list of 70 persons killed, while the texts confirmed Einaudi's comments that the magistrates who had been called on by the victims' families to consider these incidents had systematically acquitted the policemen. According to Le Monde in 1997, which quoted the director of the Paris' Archives, the register would list 90 persons by the second half of October.[22].

In a 2001 article in Esprit, Paul Thibaud discussed the controversy between Jean-Luc Einaudi, who spoke of 200 dead for the sole 17 October, and 325 killed by the police during the autumn of 1961, and Jean-Paul Brunet, who gave an estimate of only 50 (and 160 dead, possible homicide victims, who passed through the IML medico-legal institute during the four months between September and December 1961). Although criticizing Einaudi on some points, Thibaud also underlined that Brunet had consulted only police archives and took the registers of the IML medico-legal institute at face value. Basing himself on others sources, Thibaud pointed out that an administrative dissimulation of the dead had taken place, and that the IML could not be consulted as sole source (as did Brunet). Thibaud concluded that Einaudi's work made it possible to give an estimate of 300 Algerian victims of murders (whether by police or others) between 1st September and 31 December 1961.[23]

With almost no media coverage at the time, the events surrounding the massacre, as well as the death toll, were largely unknown, both in France and worldwide, for decades, in part because they were overshadowed by the 8 February 1962 Charonne massacre, which did not exclusively involve Algerians, but also included members of the Communist Party.

[edit] Reactions to the massacre

On 26 October, Georges Montaron, editor of Témoignage Chrétien, Claude Bourdet, editor of France Observateur, Emmanuel d'Astier de la Vigerie, editor of Libération, Avril, editor of Télérama, parish priest Lochard, Jean-Marie Domenach, editor of Esprit magazine, Jean Schaeffert and André Souquière organized in the Mutualité a meeting to "protest against police violences and the repression of the 17 October 1961 demonstration in Paris".

A few days later, some anonymous policemen published a text called A group of republican policemen declare... (Un groupe de policiers républicains déclarent...) on 31 October, stating:

"What happened on 17 October 1961 and in the following days against the peaceful demonstrators, on which no weapons were found, morally forces us to bring our testimony and to alert public opinion... All guilty people must be punished. The punishment must be extended to all of the responsible people, those who give orders, those who feign of letting it happen, whatever their high office may be... Among the thousands of Algerians brought to the Parc des Expositions of the Porte de Versailles, tens have been killed by blows from rifle butts and pickaxe handles... In one of the extremity of the Neuilly bridge, groups of policemen on one side, CRS on the other, moved slowly towards each other. All the Algerians captured in this huge trap were knocked out and systematically thrown in the Seine. A good hundred people were subjected to this treatment... [In the Parisian police headquarters], torturers threw their victims by tens in the Seine which flows at only a few meters from the courtyard, to keep them from being examined by the forensic scientists. Not before having taken their watches and money. Mr. Papon, prefect of the police, and Mr. Legay, general director of the municipal police, assisted to these horrible scenes... These indisputable facts are only a small part of what has happened in these last days and what continues to happen. They are known by the municipal police. The extortions committed by the harkis, the district special brigades, the brigades des aggressions et violences are not secret any more. The little information given by the newspapers is nothing compared to the truth... We do not sign this text and sincerely regret it. We observe, not without sadness, that the current circumstances do not allow us to do so..."[24]

The anonymous authors remained so until the late 1990s although Maurice Papon tried to discover them. In February 1999, its main author, Emile Portzer, former member of the National Front resistance organization during the war, testified in favor of historian Jean-Luc Einaudi during the trial which followed Papon's suit against him (won by Einaudi). On 1 January 1962, the police prefect Papon declared to the police forces under his orders: "On 17 October you won... the victory against Algerian terrorism... Your moral interests have been successfully defended, since the aim of the police prefecture's opponents to put in place an investigation committee have been defeated."[25]

[edit] 8 February 1962 Charonne massacre

On 8 February 1962, another demonstration against the OAS, which had been prohibited by the state, was repressed at Charonne metro station. Nine members of the CGT trade union, most of them communists, were killed by the police forces, directed by the same Maurice Papon under the same government, with Roger Frey as Minister of Interior, Michel Debré as Prime minister and Charles de Gaulle as president, who did all they could to "dissimulate the scale of the 17 October crime" (Jean-Luc Einaudi[26]). The funerals on 13 February 1962 of the nine persons killed (among them, Fanny Dewerpe) were attended by hundreds of thousands of people.[27][28][29]

[edit] Reporting

Despite the extent of the massacre and publicity surrounding the event - anecdotes tell of piles of bodies in the street, as well as bodies being found downriver for weeks afterwards - the paucity of objective press coverage at the time of the massacre was likely due to two factors: successful censorship of the media by several levels of the government, and biased reporting by major media outlets in countries that were supportive of the French government's policy regarding Algeria. Some censorship was enforced by the Paris government due to concerns about responsibilities within the Paris police department for the massacre, while other censorship was enforced by the government because of concerns about its deteriorating position in the Algerian War. Furthermore, according to James J. Napoli, coverage of the massacre by major British and American media sources, such as The Times, TIME magazine and The New York Times, downplayed the severity of the massacre as well as the Paris government's responsibility for the events.[30]

[edit] Recent events

The French government acknowledged in 1998 that the massacre occurred and that 40 people died in the massacre.

No-one has been prosecuted for participation in the killings, because they fell under the general amnesty for crimes committed during the Algerian War. This included on one side French police and military personnel; and on the other side various French (pro-independence, often communist) and Algerian terrorists, for attacks on civilian targets such as cafés, which killed 3,000 civilians.

Forty years after the massacre, in 2001, the event was officially acknowledged by the city of Paris with the placement and unveiling of a memorial plaque near the Saint Michel bridge.[3][2] This resulted from work by the Socialist Party local government. At the unveiling of the plaque, Bertrand Delanoë, the Socialist Party Mayor of Paris, cited the need for France to come to terms with this event in order to move forward with unity. Centrist and right-wing French politics, as well as the police union, objected to the plaque on various grounds (increased threat of civil unrest, alleged tolerance of terrorism [sic], and encouragement of disrespect for the police). On the other hand, historian Olivier LeCour Grandmaison, president of the 17 October 1961 Association, declared to L'Humanité that "if a step forward had been taken with the decision of the Parisian' townhall to put a commemorative plate on the Saint-Michel Bridge, [he] deplored that the text which was chosen for it brings about neither the idea of a crime against humanity nor the responsibility of the author of the crime, the state. Under no excuse does this Parisian initiative exempts the highest national authorities of taking their responsibilities. In the same manner, if [former Socialist Prime minister] Lionel Jospin personally expressed himself last year [in 2000] talking about "tragic events", neither the police's responsibility in the crime nor the responsibility of the political responsibles at the time have been clearly established and much less officially condemned."[31]

[edit] The massacre in popular culture

The massacre was prominently referenced in Caché, a 2005 film by Michael Haneke.

The French television documentary Nuit noire, 17 octobre 1961 explores in detail the events of the massacre. It follows the lives of several people and also shows some of the divisions within the Paris police, with some openly arguing for more violence while others tried to uphold the rule of law.

The massacre is described in the opening verse of Irish punk rock band Stiff Little Fingers song 'When The Stars Fall From The Sky'.

French rapper Médine dedicates a whole song to the massacre on his album Table d'écoute.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b (French) Jean-Luc Einaudi: "La bataille de Paris : 17 octobre 1961", 1991, ISBN 2-02-013547-7
  2. ^ a b (French) "Le 17 octobre 1961, la réalité d’un massacre face à un mensonge d’Etat (17 October 1961, the reality of a massacre against a state lie)", Le Monde, 16 October 2001. 
  3. ^ a b (English) BBC News
  4. ^ Une station de métro « 17 Octobre 1961 » ?. Retrieved on 2007-12-09. (French)
  5. ^ "Une station de métro près de Paris baptisée “17-Octobre-1961”?", 2007-02-18.  (also Une station de métro près de Paris baptisée “17-Octobre-1961” (2007-02-18). Retrieved on 2007-03-05.) (French)
  6. ^ Branche, Raphaëlle (2001). La Torture et l'Armée pendant la guerre d'Algérie. Gallimard. ISBN 2070760650.  (French) (see also [1] (English))
  7. ^ Jean-Luc Einaudi and Maurice Rajsfus, Les Silences de la police - 16 juillet 1942, 17 octobre 1961, L'Esprit frappeur, 2001, ISBN 2-84405-173-1 (French)
  8. ^ Op.cit., p.72
  9. ^ See Jean-Luc Einaudi and Maurice Rajsfus, 2001, op.cit., pp.73-74 for the 25 August 1958 FLN offensive; the detention of 5,000 Algerians; L'Humanité quote and the "boasting about throwing Algerians in the Seine".
  10. ^ Ibid.
  11. ^ Ibid.
  12. ^ Jean-Luc Einaudi and Maurice Rajsfus, 2001, p.74
  13. ^ Jean-Luc Einaudi and Maurice Rajsfus, 2001, op.cit., p.75
  14. ^ Quoted by J.-L. Einaudi, 2001, op.cit., p.76
  15. ^ Op.cit., p.76
  16. ^ Report quoted by Einaudi pp.76-79, op.cit.
  17. ^ J.-L. Einaudi, op.cit., p.79
  18. ^ J-L Einaudi, op.cit., p.82-82
  19. ^ (French) "17 octobre 1961 : la longue liste de morts des archives de Paris", L'Humanité, 23 October 1997. 
  20. ^ Maurice Papon, Vichy and Algeria, dissertation by Stephanie Hare-Cuming, London School of Economics (English)
  21. ^ Jean-Paul Brunet, Police Contre FLN: Le drame d'octobre 1961, Paris: Flammarion, 1999
  22. ^ Concerning David Assouline's access to part of the Paris' Archives and the Monde quoting the director, see "17 octobre 1961 : la longue liste de morts des archives de Paris", L'Humanité, 23 October 1997. 
  23. ^ Paul Thibaud, "17 Octobre 1961: un moment de notre histoire," in Esprit, November 2001 (French)
  24. ^ Quoted by J.-L. Einaudi, op.cit., pp.83-84
  25. ^ Quoted by Einaudi, op.cit., p85
  26. ^ J.-L. Einaudi, op.cit., p.83
  27. ^ "Charonne, passé au scalpel de l’historien (interview with historian Alain Dewerpe, member of the Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales)", L'Humanité, 6 February 2006. 
  28. ^ "Charonne et le 17 octobre enfin réunis", L'Humanité, 11 February 2006. 
  29. ^ Alain Dewerpe, Charonne, 8 février 1962, anthropologie historique d'un massacre d'Etat, Gallimard, 2006
  30. ^ The Washington Report on the Middle East: The 1961 Massacre of Algerians in Paris: When the media failed the test. (English)
  31. ^ "17 OCTOBRE 1961 Olivier La Cour-Grandmaison : le silence n’est plus de mise", L'Humanité, 17 October 2001. 

The main character Dihya from the French Novel De grâce (published by JC Lattes) and written by Hamid Aït-Taleb is a heartbreaking witness of October 1961.

[edit] Sources and bibliography

  • In English:
  • In French:
    • Alain Dewerpe, Charonne, 8 février 1962. Anthropologie historique d'un massacre d'Etat, Gallimard, 2006, 870p.
    • Didier Daeninckx: Meurtres pour mémoire, 1984, ISBN 2-07-040649-0
    • Jean-Luc Einaudi: La bataille de Paris : 17 octobre 1961, 1991, ISBN 2-02-013547-7 (reference book; first historian to have access to police archives, due to his testimony during the trial of Maurice Papon)
    • Jean-Luc Einaudi and Maurice Rajsfus, Les silences de la police - 16 juillet 1942, 17 octobre 1961, 2001, L'Esprit frappeur, ISBN 2-84405-173-1 (Rajsfus is a historian of the French police, the first date refers to the 16 July 1942 Rafle du Vel'd'Hiv)
    • Olivier LeCour Grandmaison, Le 17 octobre 1961 - Un crime d’État à Paris, collectif, Éditions La Dispute, 2001.
    • Jean-Paul Brunet, Police Contre FLN: Le drame d'octobre 1961, Paris: Flammarion, 1999
    • Paul Thibaud, "17 Octobre 1961: un moment de notre histoire," in Esprit, November 2001 (concerning the debate between Einaudi and Brunet)

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

  • A list, necessarily incomplete, of the dead or missing (currently numbering 140).