French Lawmakers Push for Official Recognition of the 1945 Massacres in Algeria

Watan-More than seventy members of the French National Assembly—mostly from the “France Unbowed” bloc—have introduced a draft resolution demanding official recognition and condemnation of the massacres committed by French colonial authorities in Algeria on May 8, 1945, in the cities of Sétif, Guelma, Kherrata, and surrounding areas.

The proposal was signed by numerous MPs known for their support of decolonization justice, including MP Idir Boumertit, Mathilde Panot (chair of the France Unbowed group), Manuel Bompard, Paul Vannier, Danièle Obono, Aurélien Taché, and others.

The resolution draws on documented historical events, noting that the massacres occurred on the same day France was celebrating its victory over Nazism in World War II. Thousands of Algerians had taken to the streets peacefully, demanding equality, dignity, and implementation of the new global principles announced by the United Nations. These demands were met with brutal and bloody repression from French colonial authorities.

The resolution notes that the massacres began after the young Algerian Bouzid Saâl was shot for carrying the Algerian flag. What followed was a wave of organized violence targeting peaceful demonstrators and unarmed civilians, carried out under direct orders from France’s highest colonial authorities.

The MPs argue that the massacres were not isolated incidents, but a “systematic collective punishment” that included aerial bombardments, the burning of entire villages, the use of poison gas in caves, and mass executions—especially in Guelma, where militias organized under direct supervision from Deputy Governor André Achiari carried out mass killings.

The document claims the massacres lasted several days, killing tens of thousands of civilians, despite French efforts to conceal the events and obstruct the investigative mission planned to be led by General Tubert. It also references the testimony of French General Duval, who later said: “I gave you ten years of peace, but everything must change in Algeria,” an implicit acknowledgment of the massacre’s scale and its turning-point role in Franco-Algerian relations.

The authors of the proposal describe the events as state crimes committed against unarmed civilians under official orders, asserting that France must now—nearly 80 years later—take historical and moral responsibility. They call for public recognition of the massacres as colonial atrocities that contradict France’s professed values of liberty, equality, and justice.

The resolution calls for a formal condemnation by the French National Assembly and an official tribute to the victims and their families. It also demands full access to the French archives related to the events of May 8, 1945, to uncover the historical truth and dismantle the longstanding narrative of denial.

The text stresses the importance of including these events in France’s official school curricula, alongside other colonial crimes committed in Algeria since the French invasion in 1830, as a step toward building an honest collective memory and deeper understanding of the colonial legacy.

The MPs also propose the establishment of an official national day in France to commemorate the victims of the May 8 massacres—an annual observance to be added to the republic’s official calendar.

The resolution concludes by urging stronger Franco-Algerian cooperation in the field of history and memory through joint research and reconciliation projects based on truth and acknowledgment. It calls on the French government to participate honestly and courageously in this process, working with Algerian authorities to complete the memory file—including full disclosure of the 1945 massacres, which directly preceded Algeria’s war of independence nine years later.

If adopted, the proposal would mark an unprecedented shift in French political discourse—an official recognition of one of the most horrific colonial crimes that the Fifth Republic has long sought to downplay or ignore.

In Algeria, the massacres—believed to have claimed 45,000 lives according to Algerian estimates—are commemorated annually as a key event in shaping national consciousness and sparking the revolutionary movement.

French historian Benjamin Stora, a specialist in Algerian history, expressed skepticism that the resolution would pass, citing the lack of a parliamentary majority and the rise of the far right, which rejects any acknowledgment of France’s colonial past.

In an interview with “Tout sur l’Algérie,” Stora noted that the first official French reference to the massacres came in 2005 when then-Ambassador Hubert Colin de Verdière delivered a speech in Sétif describing the events as an “unpardonable tragedy,” under President Jacques Chirac’s guidance. A follow-up speech by Ambassador Bernard Bajolet in Guelma in 2008 also acknowledged France’s responsibility.

Stora believes these political gestures have helped bring the massacres into French public awareness, especially through education and new historical research. He also argues that the Sétif massacres opened the door to discussing other colonial atrocities during France’s decolonization era—such as the 1946 Haiphong massacre in Vietnam and the 1947 Madagascar massacre—gradually revealing the brutal reality of French imperialism, including its devastating conquest of Algeria between 1830 and 1890.