André Branlard and Durand ECPAD
In “Talk to me about history”, preceding a debate moderated by Guillaume Perrault, a documentary gives a voice to the former soldiers of the contingent. Poignant.
Between 25,000 and 30,000 conscripts died in Algeria from 1954 to 1962, during what was then called a “law enforcement operation”. The entire merit of Bernard George's documentary is to give voice to former conscripts, which makes it possible to measure the trauma experienced by an entire generation. In the second part of the evening, a debate moderated by Guillaume Perrault is broadcast as part of the program “Parle-moi d'histoire”. With, on stage, to discuss in particular the decision of the FLN to opt for violent action from the summer of 1954, the historians Pierre Vermeren and Guy Pervillé.
The incredible gap between the reality of the conflict and the feelings of citizens in mainland France is evident in the testimonies of former soldiers. « I had imagined a glorious return. We make cinema : being waited for by a handful of friends, family… And then I came back, and there was no one on the platform »remembers Roger Le Thuaut, who spent twenty-four months in Algeria. Like him, 1.5 million conscripts were hired. They all demonstrate the same feeling of incomprehension towards them within French society. « What I saw on television (…) was completely distorted. So, when I came back, I found that everything was distorted, that censorship existed, that we weren't telling the truth. And I was angry »snaps Jean-Pierre Louvel, twenty-six months under the flag.
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“I betrayed the harkis”
Jacques Inrep, twenty-eight months away from home, recalls the painful reunion with his family: « We celebrated my return, we uncorked the champagne, and it went very badly, actually. People were missing the point. My mother thought I had vacationed in Algeria. I must have more or less broken a chair. And my father, who was a former conscript from 14-18, joined me and told me : “Those at the back cannot understand”. »
Jean-Pierre Gaildraud, reserve officer, was in charge of a company of harkis. He remembers his men with tears in his eyes. « You had everything in a harka. I had an old corporal who had served in the Second World War, so there were those for whom France meant a lot. There was also economic interest. I had bonds full of affection, trust and I told them when I felt they were a little worried : “France will not abandon you”. I, a French officer of the contingent, told them that and they believed me. That's all that meant that when I had to disarm them, it didn't go badly, because they believed me. So it went rather badly for me, because not only did I betray, but also one of my men, who was the most loyal to me, was taken down to his house, they killed him and they threw him into the barbed wire of my post (…) His open eyes, his eyes of death, kept me from sleeping for twenty years. » Then the former conscript evokes the reaction of his office colleagues after the conflict: « They threw me : “Your harkis were collaborators.” We couldn't understand each other, so we kept quiet. »
Free the floor
The conscripts then take refuge in silence. « The only ones, and this is still true today, with whom we are sure not to be judged, are our comrades », confides Jean-Pierre Gaildraud. It was not until 1999, thirty-seven years after the Evian Accords, that the “events” in Algeria were considered a war, thanks to a bill adopted by the National Assembly. In 2002, President Chirac inaugurated a monument to the dead of North Africa on Quai Branly. For the first time, the Algerian War entered official history. Enough to free speech, particularly on the subject of torture, and finally allow the entire population to become aware of the trauma experienced by a sacrificed generation.
