The 1961 Paris massacre (also called the 17 October 1961 massacre in France) was the mass killing of Algerians who were living in Paris by the French National Police. It occurred on 17 October 1961, during the Algerian War (1954–62). Under orders from the head of the Parisian police, Maurice Papon, the National Police attacked a demonstration by 30,000 pro-National Liberation Front (FLN) Algerians. After 37 years of denial and censorship of the press, in 1998 the government finally acknowledged 40 deaths, while some historians estimate that between 200 and 300 Algerians died. Death was due to heavy-handed beating by the police, as well as mass drownings, as police officers threw demonstrators into the river Seine.
The massacre was intentional, as substantiated by historian Jean-Luc Einaudi, who won a trial against Papon in 1999 (Papon had been convicted in 1998 of crimes against humanity for his role under the Vichy collaborationist regime during World War II). Official documentation and eyewitness accounts within the Paris police department suggest that Papon directed the massacre himself. Police records show that he called for officers in one station to be "subversive" in quelling the demonstrations, and assured them protection from prosecution if they participated.See Einaudi (1991), La Bataille de Paris.
Forty years after the massacre, on 17 October 2001, Bertrand Delanoë, the Mayor of Paris, put up a plaque in remembrance of the massacre on Pont Saint-Michel. How many demonstrators were killed is still unclear. In the absence of official estimates, the plaque commemorating the massacre reads, "In memory of the many Algerians killed during the bloody repression of the peaceful demonstration of 17 October 1961". On 18 February 2007 (the day after Papon's death) calls were made for a Paris Métro station under construction in Gennevilliers to be named "17 Octobre 1961" in commemoration of the massacre.
Background
The massacre took place in the context of the Algerian War (1954–62), which had become increasingly violent. After Charles de Gaulle's return to power during the May 1958 crisis and his sudden change of policy on Algerian independence, the OAS (the Organisation armée secrète, Secret Army Organisation, a far-right French dissident paramilitary and terrorist organisationAlgérie: Géographie, économie, histoire et politique (Les Grands Articles d'Universalis): Universalis, Encyclopaedia (28 October 2015). (French Edition) (Kindle Locations 1157–1158). Encyclopaedia Universalis. Kindle Edition.) used all possible means to oppose the National Liberation Front (FLN), which took the war to the metropolis, where it was helped by activists such as the Jeanson network. The repression by French authorities, both in Algeria and in metropolitan France, was very harsh.
The French National Police
According to historian Jean-Luc Einaudi, a specialist on the massacre, some of the causes of the violent repression of the 17 October 1961 demonstration can best be understood in terms of the composition of the French police force itself, which still included many former members of the force in place during the Vichy regime that collaborated with the Gestapo to detain Jews, as for example in the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup of 16–17 July 1942.
The vast majority of police officers suspended after the Liberation of Paris in 1944 for extreme forms of collaborationism (including assistance to the Parti Populaire Français and similar groups) were later reintegrated into the police forces. In contrast, some of the policemen who had been part of the French Resistance had their career advancement blocked because of Cold War anti-communism, since the Resistance was partially communist and communist ministers had been expelled from the government in May 1947. Moreover, police officers who had been members of the Resistance might well have taken part in the various raids against Jews and other persecuted groups during the Vichy regime, as otherwise they would have been dismissed.See Einaudi & Rajsfus 2001.
Papon's career as Head of Paris's police force in the 1960s and Minister of Finance under Valéry Giscard d'Estaing's presidency in the 1970s suggests that there was institutional racism in the French police until at least the 1960s. In fact, Papon was not charged and convicted until 1997–98 for his World War II crimes against humanity in being responsible for the deportation of 1,560 Jews, including children and the elderly, between 1942 and 1944.
Papon appointed head of Police Prefecture (March 1958)
Before his appointment as chief of the Paris police, Papon had been, since 1956, prefect of the Constantine department in Algeria, where he actively participated in the repression of and use of torture against the civilian population. On 13 March 1958, 7,000 policemen demonstrated in the courtyard of the police headquarters against delays in the "" accorded to them because of the war, although the FLN had not yet begun to target police officers. Encouraged by far-right deputy Jean-Marie Le Pen, 2,000 of them attempted to enter the Palais Bourbon, seat of the National Assembly, with shouts of "" (Dirty Jews! Into the Seine (river)! Death to the (Algerian) rebels!). With Minister of Interior Maurice Bourgès-Maunoury's recommendation, Papon was named prefect the next day. Two years earlier, in Constantine, Algeria, he had assumed the role of "" (IGAME – General Inspector for the Administration on Extraordinary Mission). "Prohibited zones, detention centers (), torture, executions without trial: this is the reality of the war he [Papon] was supervising out there." According to Einaudi, in the following years he applied these methods in Paris and the Seine department.Einaudi 1991, p.72
After the May 1958 crisis and the installation of the French Fifth Republic under 'Free France' leader Charles de Gaulle's leadership, Papon was kept on. He created the (district companies), police forces that specialized in repression, where new police recruits were trained. These companies were formed mainly from veterans of the First Indochina War (1947–54) and young Frenchmen coming back from Algeria.
August 1958 raids On 25 August 1958, the FLN launched an offensive in Paris. During this action, three policemen were killed on Boulevard de l'Hôpital in the 13th Arrondissement. Another policeman was killed in front of the cartoucherie de Vincennes. A police station came under machine gun fire. Papon retaliated with massive raids on Algerian people in Paris and its suburbs. More than 5,000 Algerians were detained in the former Beaujon hospital, in the Japy gymnasium (11th Arrondissement) and in the Vél'd'Hiv. The Japy gymnasium and the Vél'd'Hiv had been used as detention centers under the Vichy regime.See Einaudi & Rajsfus 2001, pp.73–74 for the 25 August 1958 FLN offensive; the detention of 5,000 Algerians; L'Humanité quote and the "boasting about throwing Algerians in the Seine". A former member of the FTP resistance, reporter Madeleine Rifaud wrote in L'Humanité:
In the past two days, a racist concentration camp has been opened in Paris. They have not even had the good sense to choose a site which would not remind French patriots who are currently celebrating the anniversary of the Liberation of Paris of what took place there.
Creation of the CIV and the FPA militia (1959–1960) According to Einaudi, "Already at this time, policemen [were] boasting about throwing Algerians in the Seine" river. Vincennes's "identification center" (CIV—Centre d'identification de Vincennes) was then created under the authority of the prefecture of police in January 1959. Algerians detained during police raids in the Paris region could be brought there for identity verifications but could also be put under house arrest by the prefect. "These raids were frequently the occasion of violence," Einaudi wrote.Einaudi & Rajsfus 2001, p.74
The Auxiliary Police Force (FPA—Force de police auxiliaire) was created in 1959. This special constabulary force, under the authority of the Algerian Affairs Coordination Center of the Prefecture of Police (Centre de coordination des Affaires algériennes de la préfecture de police) and supervised by the military, was under Papon's control. Led by Captain Raymond Montaner and based at the Fort de Noisy, Romainville, it was composed entirely of Algerian Muslims recruited in Algeria or France. In autumn 1960, the FPA had 600 members. It first operated in the 13th Arrondissement, where it requisitioned café-hotels. Torture is rumoured to have been used, most notably at 9, rue Harvey and 208, rue du Château des Rentiers. Forced disappearances took place. The FPA then extended its action to the 18th Arrondissement, where three hotels were requisitioned in rue de la Goutte-d'Or. The FPA was also active in the suburbs, from the summer of 1961, in particular in Nanterre's bidonvilles. Some voices were opposed to these crimes denied by the police prefecture.Einaudi & Rajsfus 2001, p.75 Christian magazine wrote: "It is not possible to stay silent when, in our Paris, men are resurrecting the methods of the Gestapo".Cited by Einaudi 1991, p.76
1961 The FLN decided to resume bombings against the French police at the end of August 1961; from the end of August to the beginning of October 1961, 11 policemen were killed and 17 injured in Paris and its suburbs. "These bombings had the effect of spreading fear throughout the ranks of the Paris police, but also for increasing the desire for revenge and hate against the whole of the community. During the whole of September, the Algerian population was severely repressed. In practice, this massive repression was based on physical appearance", according to Einaudi.Einaudi 1991, p.76 There were daily raids against Algerians—and frequently any Maghrebi people (Moroccans or Tunisians), and even Spanish or Italian immigrants, who were mistaken for Algerians. Algerians were arrested at work or in the streets and thrown into the Seine with their hands tied in order to drown them, among other methods, as shown for example in a report by the priest Joseph Kerlan from the Mission de France.Report cited by Einaudi 1991, pp.76–79.
According to Einaudi, "It was in this climate that, on 2 October, during the funerals of a policeman killed by the FLN, the police prefect [Papon] proclaimed, in the prefecture's courtyard: 'For one hit taken we shall give back ten!' This call was an encouragement to kill Algerians and was immediately understood as such. On the same day, visiting Montrouge's police station, the prefect of police declared to the police officers present: 'You also must be subversive in the war that sets you against others. You will be covered, I give you my word on that'".Einaudi 1991, p.79.
Events