The French historian Benjamin Stora gives this Wednesday, January 20 to Emmanuel Macron his eagerly awaited report on the colonization and the war in Algeria (1954-1962) in an attempt to
"decompartmentalize"
the divergent and painful memories between the two countries, to the relations as narrow as they are complex.
Recognized specialist in the contemporary history of Algeria, Benjamin Stora was commissioned in July by the French president to
"draw up a fair and precise inventory of the progress made in France on the memory of colonization and the war of Algeria ”
, completed in 1962, and which remains a very painful episode in the memories of the families of millions of French and Algerians.
To read also: Mission on the memory of the war in Algeria: Focus of Benjamin Stora
The historian wants to promote a
"will of passage, of bridge, of circulation, of decompartmentalization of memories"
, he declared, adding that his report would be concrete.
"It is not simply ideological, it is not simply speeches that we make, favorite words that we say, but acts, that is to say, to open archives, to identify places, to search of the missing, maintain cemeteries.
These are things which are very simple, very practical, very obvious but which are all contentious, very serious problems between France and Algeria, ”
he listed, without revealing the content of the report made public on Wednesday. .
The first French president born after this war, Emmanuel Macron shows his desire to dispassionate and unblock this burning issue and try, through this, to appease the volatile bilateral relations for decades between the two countries, intimately linked by history, to the conquest and colonization from 1830 to the War of Independence.
In Algeria, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune instructed the director of the national archives, Abdelmadjid Chikhi, to work on the memorial issue, together with Benjamin Stora, in a common and concerted approach by the two heads of state.
"Finish the historical work"
As the 60th anniversary of the end of the conflict approaches in 2022, Emmanuel Macron entrusted Benjamin Stora with this report as part of his initiatives to try to
"finish the historic work on the Algerian war"
because, a- he explained in December,
"we have lots of memories of the war in Algeria which are so many wounds"
.
In France alone, Algeria is present in the family memories of millions of French people and Algerians, whether they are blackfoot returnees, conscripts from the contingent who waged war (who did not was not called as such for a long time but designated by the term "events in Algeria"), harkis, these auxiliaries who fought for France, and of course Algerian immigrants ...
To read also: Algerian War: "no question of writing a common history", according to Benjamin Stora, commissioned by the Élysée
In Benjamin Stora's mission letter, Emmanuel Macron indicates that
“it is important that the history of the Algerian war be known and viewed with lucidity.
It is at stake for the appeasement and serenity of those it has hurt ”
.
For him, it is also
"the possibility for our youth to get out of memory conflicts"
.
On the Algerian side, President Tebboune hoped that Benjamin Stora and Abdelmadjid Chikhi accomplish
"their work in truth, serenity and appeasement to resolve these problems which poison our political relations, the business climate and good understanding"
, as he had explained it to the French daily
L'Opinion
.
Algiers in particular expects Paris to be given
"all"
of the archives of the colonial period (1830-1962) concerning it.
France returned to Algeria part of the archives it kept, but it kept the part relating to colonial history and which, according to it, falls under the sovereignty of the French state.
Born in 1950 in Constantine, Algeria, Benjamin Stora teaches the history of the Maghreb, the wars of decolonization and Maghreb immigration in Europe at the University of Paris 13 and at Inalco (Oriental Languages).
He is notably the author of the essays
Gangrene and oblivion, the memory of the Algerian war
,
Called in the Algerian war ”or“ Algeria, the invisible war
.
