PARIS – Emmanuel Macron, the first French president born after the brutal Algerian war of independence, took a further step towards reconciliation by declaring that a leading Algerian lawyer and nationalist did not die in 1957 by suicide not, as France had long claimed, but was tortured and killed by French soldiers.
Ali Boumendjel, a prominent defender of the French-occupied war in Algeria, was captured on 5 February 1957 during the Battle of Algiers and kept secret for 43 days.
In the name of France, Mr. Macron said Boumendjel “did not commit suicide. He was tortured and subsequently killed.”
For decades, and despite the constant pressure from the late widow of the lawyer, Malika Boumendjel, France has stuck to the story that death was a suicide. It did so even after the French army general, Paul Aussaresses, admitted in a book published in 2001 that he had killed Mr. Boumendjel was killed through a window of the sixth floor.
The most painful episodes of French history, from the Vichy cooperative government in World War II to the Algerian war, were difficult to end up in full light.
The end of 132 years of French colonization, the Algerian war fought from 1954 to 1962, according to French reports left half a million people dead and, according to Algeria, 1.5 million dead. It broke France into factions that violently opposed and threatened to tear the country apart, before a peace treaty was signed on March 18, 1962, paving the way for Algerian independence.
Mr. Macron, who called the French colonization of Algeria a ‘crime against humanity’ before his presidency, was determined to overcome the French-Algerian trauma. Its shadow extends even today to the large North African population with ties to Algeria who settled in the great French cities.
Macron invited four of Boumendjel’s grandchildren to the Élysée Palace before being announced late Tuesday.
This new generation ‘must be able to build its own destiny, far from the two tracks that have memory loss and resentment’, reads a statement issued by the presidential office. “It is for them, the French and the Algerian youth, that we must progress on the path of truth, the only thing that can lead to the reconciliation of memories.”
The Algerian government made the statement by Mr. Macron welcomes. “Algeria welcomes the announcement by French President Emmanuel Macron of his decision to honor the fighter and martyr Ali Boumendjel,” state television said in an official statement on Thursday.
This positive response was in contrast to the mixed reception given in Algeria to a report by Mr. Macron commissioned the legacy of colonization and a war for independence between the two countries. Written by Benjamin Stora, a leading French historian, and published in January, it called for a Commission of Remembrance and Truth, now established, to shed light on the grim history of the conflict and to heal wounds.
But for Algerians apologizing for French colonial war crimes, it lacked what they wanted. Algerian government spokesman Ammar Belhimer said at the time that the report was “not objective” because it put “victim and executioner on the same level”.
Mr. Stora requested his report to France to find out the truth about the murder of Mr. To recognize Boumendjel. There was pressure before the president’s announcement.
Mr. Macron had already acknowledged in 2018 the widespread use of torture by French forces, and specifically its use against Maurice Audin, a member of the Algerian Communist Party who was also killed by French soldiers in 1957.
Mr. Macron, who has been in the presidential election for 14 months now and knows how explosive the Algerian issue is on the right side of the political spectrum, has insisted there will be no remorse or apology. The French ambassador to Algeria, François Gouyette, said in an interview published this week that reconciliation should be achieved through a spirit of ‘no denial or remorse’.
Macron’s Prime Minister Jean Castex said last November that French ‘self-flagellation’ was deplorable on the subject of colonization. He appealed to the country to adopt its history and find in it a source of pride.
The 60th anniversary of the end of the war will be marked in March next year, one month before the first round of the presidential election. Mr. Macron is determined to advance his pursuit of French-Algerian reconciliation before then, in part to meet Marine Le Pen’s challenge to immigrants.
A solid candidate, Mrs. Le Pen, has worked hard to appeal to the moderate center-right by relinquishing some of her more extreme positions, such as leaving the European Union and the euro. Her National Rally party, formerly the National Front, exploited resentment over the loss of Algeria to build its support after its founding nearly half a century ago.
“No crime, no atrocities committed by anyone during the Algerian war can be excused or concealed,” he said. Macron said in his statement. “They must be viewed with courage and clarity, in absolute respect for all whose lives and destiny have destroyed them.”