It’s Our History, We Should Tell It Life After the Algerian War of Independence for Harkis and Pied Noirs Alexandra Golabek Abstract: This paper is aimed to understand further why the Harki and Pied Noir role in the Algerian War of Independence is muted as much as it is in history. The perceptions French citizens and government officials held of these two groups, as well as with women, contribute to this silence. Political opportunities for Frenchmen, cultural progress, and a refusal to have their story (which includes their lives and treatment before the war, during, and after) silenced any longer add to their history becoming more common knowledge. Honor Code: I affirm that I have upheld the highest principles of honesty and integrity in my academic work and have not witnessed a violation of the Honor Code. Alexandra Golabek Introduction It is easy for the voice of the victor to be the most commonly accepted interpretation of a history. But, what if the loudest voice is not that of the victor? Who rightfully gets bestowed with the privilege of writing the history of an event, if the more powerful loses, and the more vulnerable, potentially less civilized, wins? In the case of Algeria, this African country won its independence struggle against French colonizers. However, the role of Algeria and its people within this war and their voice are rarely ever exaggerated as much so as that of the French voice. The native Algerians fought against disloyal Algerians and France to gain their independence, yet this struggle is still written about through the lens of the European losers. It is only recently that the side of the silent voices in this struggle have appeared on the radar of historians and government officials. French colonization and the independence that followed left the people in Algeria with ties to both France and Algeria without a solid, definitive home or identity. These people include the Harkis, native Algerians whose allegiance was pledged alongside that of the French during the war, and the Pied Noirs, a mixture of French, Spanish, Italian, Maltese and English migrants from the Mediterranean area who were settled in Algeria for decades, who also were more allied alongside the French during the war. It is difficult to determine whether or not these groups were better or worse off as a result of French withdrawal from colonization. Scholars today, because Harkis and Pied Noirs are coming forth about their role in and after the war, are debating the issue. They appear to be interested in the reasons these minorities are able to come forth and voice their experiences with the war, with ante bellum Algeria, and with their post independence struggle in Algeria or France, respectively. With the increase in attention on these groups, perceptions about them are being examined under a microscope. I argue that the perception of the Harkis and the Pied Noirs 2 is changing because they are acknowledging that their current status and life in the aftermath of the war are poor, and they want their conditions to improve while at the same time receiving the recognition they believe they deserve by France for their roles in the war. Over fifty years have passed since independence was declared, so the French no longer believe imperative to continue the ostracization of these groups, but instead are able to approve of them in their society. Each historian who writes on a particular historical topic brings his or her own subjectivity to the material. It is important to make note of not only who the author is in terms of their subject field and specialty to understand better their bias, but also when their piece was written and what sources they used to substantiate their own argument about the topic. In the case of the Algerian War of Independence, a conflict that took place between 1954 and 1962, many different historians have studied the people involved in the war and their treatment both during and after the armed struggle. Historians compare firsthand accounts of Pied Noirs, Harkis, and Algerian Muslim women’s living situations and their own opinions on their statuses, using evidentiary works from these groups prior, during, and after the war. The status of their current social standings in both Algeria and France have peaked the curiosity of many historians. There is the common theme throughout numerous authors’ writings on this subject that these people’s voices and histories were not created in their own, and therefore these minority groups are now establishing what they regard as their true stories on the historical radar. Several authors have argued that the sudden resurgence in the information made available to them to create a comprehensive history of these aforementioned people is from either a political opportunity on behalf of the French to secure votes, or that these groups now in the modern day are able to better access their own voice in order to clear up questions and 3 misconceptions about a forgotten war and people that is in fact a crucial aspect of their life story. Based on the evidence procured through my research, I believe that while these previously mentioned reasons for the reappearance of Harki and Pied Noirs testimony are accurate, I find that these historians are ignoring the interconnectivity of their reasons. Therefore, Harki and Pied Noirs accounts of their experiences before, during, and after the Algerian War of Independence are due in result to the cultural progress that is the current state of the world. It has been long enough, fifty-five years to be exact, that there are more outlets for expression, and more people are willing to share their stories with others who are desirous to hear the history of the Harki and Pied Noirs communities. Background It is imperative to start with a background of the Algerian War of Independence, and I will try to make this history as neutral as possible in terms of the French, Harki, and Pied Noirs actors and their contributions. In 1830, the French navy captured Algiers, the capital city of Algeria, which began the 132 years of French colonialism in Algeria.1 At the time of this blockade, the Algerian population numbered 1.5 to 3 million Algerians. During the same period, Algeria became the destination for hundreds of thousands of European immigrants to settle, who later became known as Pied Noirs, or the Black Feet.2 This identity was made up from French, Spanish, Italian, Maltese, and English origins. The Pied Noirs can be comparable to the Americans on Native American soil, with the Pied Noirs stealing the land of the indigenous 1 Martin Evans, Algeria: France’s Undeclared War (Making of the Modern World) (Oxford: University Press, 2012), 8. 2 Evans, Algeria: France’s Undeclared War, 14. 4 Algerians. Throughout this colonization, Algerian Muslims remained a majority, and their desire for more political and economic opportunities led to the initial calls for independence. The war actually broke out in 1954 on Toussaint Rouge, also known as Red, or Bloody, Saints Day, where there were numerous attacks on French military and police by the National Liberation Front, FLN, the nationalist party in Algeria who fought against the French in the war.3 The war was characterized by guerilla warfare and excessive use of torture from both sides. Although there was an overarching nationalist war for independence, the Algerian War did not hesitate to spur on civil wars between the loyal Algerians and the traitor Algerians, otherwise known as the Harkis, native Algerians who chose to fight alongside the French. In 1960, French President Charles de Gaulle opened discussions with the Algerians for their independence. With this maneuver, the Pied Noirs believed that de Gaulle would side with them, however after attacking French government offices in Algiers, de Gaulle’s only desire was to put an end to the bloody war as peacefully as possible.4 De Gaulle’s negotiations for independence led to the signing of the Évian Accords in 1962 with the FLN. This declared a ceasefire, the withdrawal of French troops from Algeria, recognition of full sovereignty and a right to self-determination for the Algerian nation, and rights for Pied Noirs. These rights included property rights, religious freedoms, and the choice of citizenship of French or Algerian after three years. A cordial relationship between the French and Algerians was supposed to present itself from this agreement, however that was not the case.5 Prior to this agreement though, the Organisation Armée Secrète, the French Secret Army 3 Evans, Algeria: France’s Undeclared War, 115. 4 Evans, Algeria: France’s Undeclared War, 319. Edward Behr, The Algerian Problem (New York W.W. Norton & Company Inc., 1962), 147, 155. 5 Phillip C. Naylor, France and Algeria: A History of Decolonization and Transformation. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2000. 5 Organisation, used terroristic means of torture and bombings to discourage the independence proclamation from being signed. Their efforts, although temporarily persuasive because of the terror they instilled, fell mute. Following the French withdrawal from Algeria, the FLN captured, attacked, tortured, and murdered thousands of Harki and Pied Noirs individuals and families, with both groups attempting to flee in the thousands to France for protection.6 France made little to no acknowledgements of the agreements they were supposed to have kept according to the Évian Accords, and Harki and Pied Noirs refugees became unwanted, unwelcomed outcasts in French society immediately after the war. It was not until 1999 that President Jacques Chirac began a dialogue for French acknowledgment of the role the Harkis and Pied Noirs played in the Algerian War of Independence.7 Most history books breeze over this war of decolonization and independence, stopping before the conditions of the Pied Noirs and Harkis after the war are made available to the public.