---
title: '🇫🇷 🇩🇿 Veterans: The French in Algeria | Featured Documentary'
source: 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOPfoaTaINU'
video_id: 'NOPfoaTaINU'
date: 2026-05-14
duration_sec: 1404
---

# 🇫🇷 🇩🇿 Veterans: The French in Algeria | Featured Documentary

> Source: [🇫🇷 🇩🇿 Veterans: The French in Algeria | Featured Documentary](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOPfoaTaINU)

## Summary

This documentary explores the Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962), a brutal conflict that France long refused to call a war. It examines the violence, the use of torture, the plight of European settlers and Algerian Harkis who fought for France, and the war's lasting impact on French society.

### Key Points

- **Commemorating a Lost Colony** [00:21] — A group gathers in a cemetery in southern France to mourn the loss of French Algeria and remember those who fought to keep it French.
- **Algeria as French Territory** [01:38] — Algeria was considered an extension of France, home to over a million European settlers with full citizenship, while the Arab and Berber majority had few rights.
- **FLN Launches Attacks** [02:33] — On November 1, 1954, the FLN launched attacks across Algeria, aiming to end French colonial rule. France sent troops, refusing to admit it was a war.
- **Trauma of French Soldiers** [04:45] — Veterans recall traumatic experiences, including witnessing summary executions and the use of Harkis to kill prisoners, leaving lasting psychological wounds.
- **Battle of Algiers** [07:03] — The FLN's urban bombing campaign in 1956 led to a harsh French response, including the use of torture by General Massu's parachute division to break FLN cells.
- **Torture Sanctioned at High Levels** [09:06] — General Aussaresses admits that torture was used and reported daily to the government, which did nothing to stop it.
- **Algerian Independence** [12:56] — On July 5, 1962, Algeria became independent after a war that cost up to a million Algerian lives. The OAS, a hardline group, tried to keep Algeria French.
- **Exodus of European Settlers** [14:39] — After independence, about 1.5 million European settlers fled Algeria following massacres, many settling in France.
- **Abandonment of the Harkis** [16:57] — Algerian Muslims who fought for France were disarmed and left to face reprisals; thousands were killed. Many were later confined to camps in France.
- **Breaking the Silence** [21:13] — In 2000, General Aussaresses published a book admitting to systematic torture, sparking debate. He was convicted for condoning war crimes but remained unrepentant.

### Conclusion

The Algerian War remains a painful and divisive chapter in French history, with unresolved issues of responsibility, memory, and the treatment of those who served France, casting a long shadow over French society and its relationship with its Muslim community.

## Transcript

on a Bluster February day in southern France a group gathers in this Cemetery France a group gathers in this Cemetery [Music] departed loved one but to mourn the loss of the former French colony of Algeria
and to remember those who resorted to violence to keep it
French that Bloody 8-year struggle failed and in 1962 Algeria gained independence from France but more than four decades on lager sonom or the war without a name as it's been known here still evokes
feelings not least for the 1 and a half million French veterans who fought in it some feel shame and regret others bitterness and
mother I lost everything everything and today I look at the French people and see that they have no answers to those of us who have suffered
was colonized by the French in the 19th century but unlike the neighboring French protectorates of Tunisia or Morocco Algeria was considered French territory legally a mere extension of Mainland France
itself and by the mid 20th century it was home to over a million European settlers while they enjoyed the Privileges of French citizenship the overwhelming majority of the population Arab and Berber Muslims reaped few
benefits from the French [Music] presence the majority of the native population didn't have the same rights as those held by a French citizen there was a contradiction between those
supposedly egalitarian Republican principles that France was supposed to be importing to Algeria as a colony and the reality
to end France's Colonial rule and achieve independence turned to violence on November the 1st the recently formed fln or National Liberation Front launched attacks across Algeria against French military and civilian
targets for the French authorities in Paris the fln's aim of Independence for Algeria was Unthinkable troops were sent in to clamp down on what was regarded as mere civil unrest and even as the violent Rebellion
escalated in the coming months into an allout conflict France refused to admit allout conflict France refused to admit it was entering into
clearly distinct National groups are concerned calling it a war meant admitting that Algeria wasn't France Algeria may have been considered part of France but for those on the mainland the violence engulfing it often
mainland the violence engulfing it often seemed what was happening in Algeria I was mainly bound up with myself Sports Friends I had a completely ordinary life but jean Pier's life was soon to be
touched by events across the Mediterranean military service we owed it to the state if we didn't we were considered traitors
cowards so one day I received an official letter calling me up and I went just like that without asking myself too many questions but on arriving in Algeria uncomfortable questions about the French
uncomfortable questions about the French Mission were difficult to Europeans living in the region that had a lot of money on the other was the nothing this meant that I started asking myself
questions concerning their reasons for betting wondering whether their action was in fact Justified many young soldiers sent to Algeria were deployed to villagers in the countryside to root out fln
influence at any [Music] cost two or three other soldiers and I found ourselves face to face with two FN and they were wounded stopped shooting to wait for
reinforcements then other soldiers arrived and one simply killed one of the FN Fighters I never forget that it remains an open
wound other veterans too remain traumatized by the scenes they witnessed traumatized by the scenes they witnessed as young
disgusting scenes for example at the end of an operation we'd captured some prisoners they weren't dead but we had to do something with them I have in my mind it's not volun the image of our special forces
just gawking at them with disgust and then going to have a beer then some haris were paid to come along and cut the prisoners throats with kitchen
the derogatory connotation traitor but it originally referred to the Muslim Algerian forces that were recruited by the French to fight against the independence
joined the French after the fln tried to kill his father and claims that neither kill his father and claims that neither side had a monopoly on
was sure the fln would kill her because she had insulted them a few days later I went with my mother to collect feed for our animals and I found a piece of Flesh I showed it to my mother and she told me it was a piece of the old woman's
troops and tactics which included the forced resettlement of large SES of the population the French proved unable to crush the independence movement and at the end of 1956 the fln hardened its stance launching a
campaign of urban attacks which inaugurated a new chapter in the war to be known as the Battle of [Music] algers bombs were planted in student bars in which there were young algerians
not just French people and an exploded bomb means people wounded killed blood out by Algerian women dressed in western clothes a tactic which sent the European
settler population into hysteria France reacted harshly deploying its 10th parachute division headed by General jacqu massu to algers in an attempt to prevent any further attacks and stop a general strike called
by the fln to Garner International attention to the independence cause General Paul oares reported directly to General directly to General masu we heard that the independent
movements of they would organize a strike the of they would organize a strike the governor and general agreed that we governor and general agreed that we would stop that strike at any price you
understand at any price that price included degrading forms of torture practiced by General massu parachute division as they swept the streets of alger's ancient Muslim quarter the kaspa in an attempt to
identify and break fln cells I gave orders to to get any possible information so some of other people in
people in charge you to share I knew they yes I knew but I found it was better to of some results even by
torture General oares insists that the coercive methods of interrogation including torture were sanctioned at the highest levels of the French state every night I made a
night I made a report of what I had done and I did not hide anything anything every morning I gave the
anything every morning I gave the copy of what I had done to copy of what I had done to General and the same day that copy was
sent to the government without changing a word many were appalled at the measures that France the country of Liberty equality
and fraternity was undertaking within its own admit that a war took place at the time they refused to so these prisoners
didn't fall under the Geneva Convention what's more they weren't even entitled to the same rights as ordinary citizens basically they were outside the [Music] law Miss VES is today one of France's
most controversial lawyers famous for his defense of international criminals such as Carlos The Jackal but he began his career defending fln suspects an action undertaken he claims to raise attention in France itself to the
systematic abuse of Human Rights being carried out in its Algeria that no one knew about events were hushed up court cases were the only
way of denouncing these crimes publicly the only way of denouncing force and the widespread torture of fln suspects the French eventually claimed
victory in the Battle of algers attacks declined and the streets for Europeans but just as the Army was claiming military success politically
turning for as news spread of the heavy-handed measures being employed by France opinion began to shift towards the independence movement both internationally and even among some in France
what was happening in the Algerian War by writing articles about my experiences soldier and this contributed to the protests Against torture that were gaining currency in France in 1958 a constitutional crisis
erupted a military Hunter Caesar's control in algers as Generals in algers launched a military coup determined to return to power General shal deall theal had been the leader of the French Resistance to the Nazi occupation
in world War II his supporters among the Army and the European settlers of Algeria now calculated that only he would have the metal to preserve French rule in Algeria but they were to be bitterly
disappointed on July the 5th 1962 and after 10 32 years of French colonial rule Algeria was declared an independent independent nation the joy of its people was hard to
contain for the path to Independence had been a bloody 8-year war that had led to been a bloody 8-year war that had led to the loss of up to a million Algerian lives that war was prolonged by a breakaway group of hardliners known as
the organization of the secret army or the OAS which brought France itself to the verge of Civil War in its attempt to keep Algeria French at all
wasn't a sideshow this was a war within a war and indeed the go was almost a war and indeed the go was almost killed several times in direct against both French and Algerian targets accentuated the intercommunal tensions
in Algeria which boiled over over as Independence grew near endangering the future of the European [Music]
site where I worked two algerians came asking for a job I told them there wasn't any work and to try somewhere else I went into the office and one of them closed the door he was 2 m away holding a gun telling me not to move I
went at him and we fought he didn't f but I got beaten around the head it was after that that my father forced me to leave for France in the two months after Independence around 1 and a half million
European settlers abandoned their homes in Algeria following a series of massacres against them you mustn't forget that hundreds of thousands of algerians died in that war it's fundamental every Algerian family
was affected by the war the cruelty the violence the tragedy and the desire for vengeance existed you can't sit back calmly when your whole family's being killed many Europeans settled in France
of [Music] Marseilles I remember myself waiting in the queue at 5: in the morning to get a ticket for the boat for me it was temporary I never expected that I stay
in France all my life for Algeria Independence did not mean peace often plagued by political violence it has taken a course that has held no place for Europeans like
jeorge like many he settled on France's Mediterranean Coast across the sea from what was once his home while nostalgic for the life he once had there he respects the right of algerians to
self-determination but not all veterans are so accepting meeting of what's called The Association for the defense of former prisoners and
Exiles of French Algeria most were former OAS members and more than four decades on they remain firm in their belief that France should firm in their belief that France should never have given up
don't recognize the 's betrayal there's no reason to put on a pedal stool the one who betrayed France we'll forget once everyone has recognized to G's betrayal but will never forgive him few french have much sympathy for
former OAS members like these and their claims of betrayal the ill treatment of another group of French veterans however is undoubted the 150,000 Algerian Muslims who fought for France and who are still
referred to as ahead of Independence they were forcibly disarmed by the French army who stood by as thousands were tortured and killed by Algerian Independence fighters who regarded them as
[Music] traitors one day I saw an N from the area running towards the village screaming because a number of algerians had tried to cut his throat he had escaped but was breeding from the neck
and was beside himself in pain and fear but my captain said to him listen we can't help you we've liberated you you're no longer part of the French army you've got to leave unlike the European settlers and
despite the clear danger to their lives algerians who had fought for France were forbidden from immigrating to the former colonial power but through the kindness of individual French commanders several thousand were illegally smuggled into
France on arrival they were confined to Prim primitive rural camps this is the site of such a camp in which these men used to live it was
finally demolished only in [Music] 1995 in the camp we lived communally without any relation to the outside world no French kids were with us we were Arabs and didn't know what racism
was it was only when I was in college that racism came along we were treated differently always put back of the class and we found it very difficult to class and we found it very difficult to find
remain a tight-knit community they continue to demand recognition for France's responsibility for their
Republican values and then they left us without arms to our destiny we won France to admit its responsibility for those of us who died responsibility for those of us who died in Algeria and for our abandonment in
in Algeria and for our abandonment in France for some the memory of Algeria is France for some the memory of Algeria is still
love to see them but I'm scared I'm really scared I'll be killed it's my really scared I'll be killed it's my country but I can never go back
Algeria continue to haunt the algerians who fought for France and their descendants their fate has been curiously intertwined with that of post-independence Algeria for several million algerians have immigrated to
France the former colonial power they fought in search of better economic opportunities these algerians have never forgiven what many regard as the treachery of their countrymen who chose to side with the French against the
independence movement and in the suburbs of Paris and Marseilles where much of the Algerian immigrant Community is concentrated Ali immigrant Community is concentrated Ali remains a dirty
maray full of Algerian immigrants and when I used to play my mother would put her finger on her mouth telling me never to mention that we were Aris because there was still that fear that even here in France would be
state was quick to draw a line under it an amnesty was put in place for all crimes committed during the war and for decades it was veiled in official silence only in 1999 and partly under pressure from the
Algerian immigrant Comm community did the National Assembly officially admit that a war had taken place and This Small Monument was erected on the banks of the river San but it was in the year 2000 that the
silence surrounding the war was well and truly shattered General Paul oares published a book in which he admitted his part in the systematic torture that was
practiced by the French during the battle of algers crimes in Algeria crimes against humanity but his book shows that he
committed these crimes under orders from members of the government he carried out the orders but the people above him were quite simply able to bury the quite simply able to bury the past and they continued to bury the past
by putting General oares and his Publishers on trial in order to suppress the book and convicting them of condoning war crimes for many oares is the scapegoat of a Nation still unable to face up to its own responsibility for
the conduct of the war in Algeria a war in which the French values of Liberty equality and fraternity were badly compromised and which continues to
cast a dark shadow over France's relationship with its own Muslim relationship with its own Muslim Community oares himself however Remains Community oares himself however Remains unrepentant the middle of the time
unrepentant the middle of the time trial lawyer said listen if you say the trial lawyer said listen if you say the word regret there will be no trial no word regret there will be no trial no Tri I said listen no I cannot say that I
cannot say that no I will not say I [Music] there is a song of edit
[Music] noet that's my song you know I don't noet that's my song you know I don't regret I didn't like but I don't it