The Algerian Resistance between History and Memory (1945-1962)

The Algerian resistance to colonial occupation remains our heritage. For our generation, as well as for those to come, it will continue to nourish our horizons and our research.

Our project aims to extend the field of investigation to the entire national territory. We hope that all historical wilayas (provinces) will be studied with respect to the cross-cutting themes that we will define. Our goal is to produce texts on the history of the resistance at the level of the different wilayas (including the 7th)[1], on the trajectories of activists, women and men, in cities or in the countryside, on sites of memory, and on particular events (massacres, raids, demonstrations…).

Why ? Two major reasons support this choice.

First, the historiography of the Algerian resistance has benefited from an extraordinary accumulation of work since independence (1962). When we add to this the publication of testimonies and memoirs from participants involved in the national movement across all its components, it becomes clear that the construction of a memory -or even multiple memories - is essential, while scholarly production paradoxically remains the weaker part.

In a review published in Insaniyat[2], we highlighted the weight of participants’ memories and the importance of their testimonies regarding political engagement in a difficult context marked by colonial domination. Some texts reveal internal conflicts, settle old scores, and provide insight into the realities of clandestine activity and the hardships of the maquis. Reading these texts cannot go unnoticed by historians. One of the key particularities, and not the least, lies in the break from the unanimity that prevailed around the idyllic representation of the resistance.

From this perspective, memory, by becoming public, freed itself from the constraints of secrecy on topics considered taboo. And although the fragmentation effect may challenge a unified representation of memory and has caused tensions here and there, it has the advantage of allowing the articulation of genuine historical questions that situate the resistance within a broader process beyond merely military aspects or anecdotal events. Viewed in this context, writing the history of the resistance is enriched by the complexity of social dynamics, their ambivalence, and contradictions, without denying the uniqueness of individual experiences. This results in a multiplication of fields of study characteristic of “problematic history” (Henri Lefebvre) and a distancing from mere commemoration.

Distancing, however, does not mean forgetting commemoration. The perspective of the fiftieth anniversary of independence (July 5, 2012) constitutes the second reason supporting our project.

The various contributions we plan to publish on this occasion will confirm that the historicization of the resistance has reached a decisive threshold and will demonstrate the relevance of the chosen approaches.

It should be emphasized that this resistance - or these resistances- whose approaches are focused on the short term, only make sense if one keeps in mind their place within the long-term dynamics at work during the colonial period (Georges Balandier).

[1] The 7th Wilaya is the name of the FLN Federation in France. See: Ali Haroun, The 7th Wilaya : The FLN’s War in France, 1954-1962, Paris, Le Seuil, 1986.

[2] See issue 25/26 of the journal Insaniyat, published on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the outbreak of the National Liberation War.