Paris Massacre of 1961

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org/wiki/Paris_massacre_of_1961
Paris massacre of 1961

The Paris massacre of 1961[a] (also called the 17
Paris massacre of 1961
October 1961 massacre[b] in France) was the
mass killing of Algerians who were living in Paris by Part of Algerian War
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.[3][4] Death was due to heavy-handed
beating by the police, as well as mass drownings, as
police officers threw demonstrators into the river Graffiti on the Pont Saint-Michel in 1961: "Ici on
Seine.
noie les Algériens" ("Here we drown
The massacre was intentional, as substantiated by Algerians").[1][2] Dozens of bodies were later
historian Jean-Luc Einaudi, who won a trial against pulled from the River Seine.
Papon in 1999. (Papon had been convicted in 1998 of Location Pont Saint-Michel
crimes against humanity for his role under the Vichy
Date 17 October 1961
collaborationist regime during World War II.)
Official documentation and eyewitness accounts Deaths 200–300 (estimate)
within the Paris police department suggest that Victims A demonstration of some 30,000
Papon directed the massacre himself. Police records pro-National Liberation Front
show that he called for officers in one station to be (FLN) Algerians
"subversive" in quelling the demonstrations, and
assured them protection from prosecution if they Perpetrators Head of the Parisian police,
participated.[4][5] Maurice Papon, the French
National Police
Forty years after the massacre, on 17 October 2001,
Bertrand Delanoë, the Socialist Mayor of Paris, put up a plaque in remembrance of the massacre
on Pont Saint-Michel.[6][7] 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.
[8][9]
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
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Paris massacre of 1961 - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_massacre_of_1961
sudden change of policy on Algerian independence, the OAS 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
Maurice Papon, who died in
later reintegrated into the police forces. In contrast, some of the
2007, was the only Vichy
policemen who had been part of the French Resistance had their
France official to be
career advancement blocked because of Cold War anti-communism,
convicted for his role in the
since the Resistance was partially communist and communist
deportation of Jews during
ministers had been expelled from the government in May 1947.
World War Two
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.[10]
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.[11][12] On 13 March 1958, 7,000 policemen demonstrated in
the courtyard of the police headquarters against delays in the "risque prime" accorded to them
because of the war, although the FLN had not yet begun to target police officers.[10] 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 "Sales Juifs! A la Seine! Mort aux fellaghas!" (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 "Inspecteur général pour l'administration en
mission extraordinaire" (IGAME – General Inspector for the Administration on Extraordinary
Mission). "Prohibited zones, detention centers (camps de regroupements), torture, executions
without trial: this is the reality of the war he [Papon] was supervising out there." According to
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Einaudi, in the following years he applied these methods in Paris and the Seine department.[13]
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 compagnies de district
(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, an FLN offensive in Paris killed three policemen on Boulevard de l'Hôpital in
the 13th Arrondissement and another in front of the cartoucherie de Vincennes. 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.[14] 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.[10]
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.[10] 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.[15]
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.[16] Christian magazine Témoignage chrétien wrote: "It is not possible to stay
silent when, in our Paris, men are resurrecting the methods of the Gestapo".[17]
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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.[18] There were daily
raids against Algerians—and frequently any Maghrebi people (Moroccans or Tunisians), and even
Spanish or Italian immigrants, who were taken 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.[19]
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'".[20]
Events
On 5 October 1961, the Prefecture of Police announced in a press statement the introduction of a
curfew from 8.30 p.m. to 5.30 a.m. in Paris and its suburbs for "Algerian Muslim workers",
"French Muslims" and "French Muslims of Algeria" (all three terms used by Papon, although the
approximately 150,000 Algerians living at the time in Paris were officially considered French and
possessed a French identity card). The French Federation of the FLN thus called upon the whole of
the Algerian population in Paris, men, women and children, to demonstrate against the curfew,
widely regarded as a racist administrative measure, on 17 October 1961. According to historian
Jean-Luc Einaudi, Papon had 7,000 policemen, 1,400 CRS and gendarmes mobiles (riot police) to
block this demonstration, to which the Prefecture of Police had not given its agreement (mandatory
for legal demonstrations). The police forces thus blocked all access to the capital, metro stations,
train stations, Paris' Portes, etc. Of a population of about 150,000 Algerians living in Paris,
30,000–40,000 of them managed to join the demonstration however. Police raids were carried out
all over the city. 11,000 persons were arrested, and transported by RATP bus to the Parc des
Expositions and other internment centers used under Vichy.[4][21] Those detained included not
only Algerians, but also Moroccan and Tunisian immigrants, who were then sent to the various
police stations, to the courtyard of the police prefecture, the Palais des Sports of Porte de Versailles
(15th Arrondissement), and the Stade Pierre de Coubertin, etc.
Despite these raids, 4,000 to 5,000 people succeeded in demonstrating peacefully on the Grands
Boulevards from République to Opéra, without incident. Blocked at Opéra by police forces, the
demonstrators backtracked. Reaching the Rex cinema (the site of the present Le Rex Club on the
"Grands Boulevards"), the police opened fire on the crowd and charged, leading to several deaths.
On the Neuilly bridge (separating Paris from the suburbs), the police detachments and FPA
members also shot at the crowd, killing some. Algerians were thrown into and drowned in the
Seine at points across the city and its suburbs, most notably at the Pont Saint-Michel in the centre
of Paris and near the Prefecture of Police, very close to Notre Dame de Paris.
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During the night, a massacre took place in the courtyard of the police headquarters,
killing tens of victims. In the Palais des Sports, then in the "Parc des Expositions of
Porte de Versailles", detained Algerians, many by now already injured, [became]
systematic victims of a 'welcoming committee'. In these places, considerable violence
took place and prisoners were tortured. Men would be dying there until the end of the
week. Similar scenes took place in the Coubertin stadium… The raids, violence and
drownings would continue over the following days. For several weeks, unidentified
corpses were discovered along the river banks. The victims of the massacre can be
estimated to at least 200 fatalities.[22]
In 1961, the police prefecture spoke only of "2 persons shot dead".[23] Following historian Jean-Luc
Einaudi's testimony during the Papon trial in the late-1990s, left-wing police Minister Jean-Pierre
Chevènement ordered the opening of parts of the archives. The resulting Mandelken Report, based
on the investigation of these partial records, counted 32 dead. Einaudi then published an op-ed in
Le Monde on 20 May 1998, contesting this official figure, criticizing both the methodology of the
report and the consulted records. He called attention to the fact that many of the records had been
destroyed. A report that Papon had prepared for Interior Minister Roger Frey, the prime minister,
and the head of government, Charles de Gaulle, was not included in the consulted records. In
addition, the Mandelken report ignored the massacre that had taken place in the courtyard of the
Police prefecture, and Papon's name itself appeared nowhere in the report. Einaudi concluded his
op-ed stating that: "on the night of 17 October 1961 there had been a massacre perpetrated by the
police forces acting on the orders of Maurice Papon." Papon subsequently filed a lawsuit against
him in February 1999, because of this sentence, alleging defamation of a public servant.
In the meanwhile, the state acknowledged in 1998 the massacre and spoke of 40 dead.
Responding to Papon's request, the court gave an ambiguous judgement. It stated that Einaudi had
"defamed" Papon, but that Einaudi had acted on "good faith", and praised the "seriousness and
quality" of Einaudi's research.[24] Both Papon and Einaudi were thus vindicated by the court's
judgement.
The French government commission in 1998 claimed only 48 people died. Historian Jean-Luc
Einaudi (La Bataille de Paris, 1991) asserted that as many as 200 Algerians had been killed. The
historian Jean-Paul Brunet found satisfactory evidence for the murder of 31 Algerians, while
suggesting that a number of up to 50 actual victims was credible.[25]
This contradicts David Assouline, who in 1997 was granted limited access to consult part of the
police documents (which were supposed to be classified until 2012) by Minister of Culture
Catherine Trautmann (PS). He found a list of 70 persons killed, while the texts confirmed Einaudi's
comments that the magistrates who had been called on by the victims' families to consider these
incidents had systematically acquitted the policemen. According to Le Monde in 1997, which
quoted the director of the Paris Archives, the register listed 90 persons by the second half of
October.[26]
In a 2001 article in Esprit, Paul Thibaud discussed the controversy between Jean-Luc Einaudi, who
spoke of 200 killed on 17 October, and 325 killed by the police during the autumn of 1961, and
Jean-Paul Brunet, who gave an estimate of only 50 (and 160 dead, possible homicide victims, who
passed through the IML medico-legal institute during the four months between September and
December 1961). Although criticizing Einaudi on some points, Thibaud also underlined that Brunet
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had consulted only police archives and took the registers of the IML medico-legal institute at face
value. Based on other sources, Thibaud pointed out (as did Brunet) that administrative
dissimulation about the dead had taken place, and that the IML could not be relied upon as sole
source. Thibaud concluded that Einaudi's work made it possible to give an estimate of 300
Algerian victims of murder (whether by police or others) between 1 September and 31 December
1961.[27]
The events surrounding the massacre and its death toll were largely unknown for decades. There
was almost no media coverage at the time. These events remained unknown in part because they
were overshadowed in the French media by the Charonne Metro Station massacre on 8 February
1962 whose victims were not only Algerians, but also French members of the French Communist
Party.
Reactions
On 26 October 1961, Georges Montaron, editor of Témoignage chrétien, Claude Bourdet, editor of
France Observateur, Emmanuel d'Astier de la Vigerie, editor of Libération, Avril, editor of
Télérama, parish priest Lochard, Jean-Marie Domenach, editor of Esprit magazine, Jean
Schaeffert and André Souquière organized in the Maison de la Mutualité a meeting to "protest
against police violence and the repression of the 17 October 1961 demonstration in Paris".
A few days later, some anonymous policemen published a text called A group of republican
policemen declare... (Un groupe de policiers républicains déclarent...) on 31 October, stating:
What happened on 17 October 1961 and in the following days against the peaceful
demonstrators, on whom no weapons were found, morally forces us to bring our
testimony and to alert public opinion (…)
All culprits must be punished. The punishment must be extended to all responsible
people, those who give orders, those who pretend to just let it happen, whatever their
high office may be (…)
Among the thousands of Algerians brought to the Parc des Expositions of the Porte de
Versailles, tens were killed by blows from rifle butts and pickaxe handles (…) Others
had their fingers chopped off by members of law enforcement, policemen and
gendarmes, who cynically had renamed themselves "welcoming committee". On one
end of the Neuilly bridge, groups of policemen on one side, CRS on the other, moved
slowly towards each other. All the Algerians captured in this huge trap were knocked
out and systematically thrown in the Seine. A good hundred people were subjected to
this treatment (…) [In the Parisian police headquarters,] torturers threw their victims
by tens in the Seine, which flows only a few meters from the courtyard, to keep them
from being examined by forensic experts. Not without taking their watches and money.
Mr Papon, the police prefect, and Mr. Legay, general director of the city police, were
present during those dreadful scenes (…)
These indisputable facts are only a small part of what happened these last days and
what continues to happen. They are known among the city police. The crimes
committed by the harkis, by the Brigades spéciales des districts, by the Brigades des
aggressions et violences are no secret any more. The little information given by news
outlets is nothing compared to the truth (…)
We won't sign this text and sincerely regret it. We observe, not without sadness, that
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current circumstances do not allow us to do so (…)[28]
The authors remained anonymous until the late 1990s although Maurice Papon tried to discover
them. In February 1999, its main author, Emile Portzer, former member of the National Front
resistance organization during the war, testified in favor of historian Jean-Luc Einaudi during the
trial that Papon had launched against him (later won by Einaudi). On 1 January 1962, Papon
declared to the police forces under his orders:
On 17 October you won … victory against Algerian terrorism … Your moral interests
have been successfully defended, since the aim of the police prefecture's opponents to
put in place an investigation committee have been defeated.[29]
8 February 1962 Charonne massacre

On 8 February 1962, another demonstration against the OAS, which had been prohibited by the
State, was repressed at Charonne Métro station (Charonne subway massacre). Nine members of
the CGT trade union, most of them French Communist Party members, were killed by police
forces, directed by Papon under the same government, with Roger Frey as Minister of the Interior,
Michel Debré as Prime Minister and Charles de Gaulle as President, who did all they could to "hide
the scale of the 17 October crime" (Jean-Luc Einaudi).[30] The funerals on 13 February 1962 of the
nine persons killed (among them, Fanny Dewerpe, mother of French historian Alain Dewerpe)
were attended by hundreds of thousands of people.[31][32][33] On 8 February 2007 the Place du 8
Février 1962, a square near the metro station, was dedicated by Bertrand Delanoë, the mayor of
Paris, after sprays of flowers were deposited at the foot of a commemorative plaque installed inside
the metro station where the killings occurred.
Reporting
According to James J. Napoli, coverage of the massacre by major British and American media
sources, such as The Times, Time magazine and The New York Times, downplayed the severity of
the massacre as well as the Paris government's responsibility for the events.[34]
Historiography and recent events
Access to archives and number of deaths
Following the massacre that occurred in 1961, the police archives were sealed to anyone looking to
investigate until the 1990s when they were eventually reopened. This was following the publication
of "La Bataille de Paris" by Jean-Luc Einaudi[35] in which he approximated that the death toll was
closer to 200. With the publication of this book, the massacre began to gain more
acknowledgement which led to the reopening of the archives. However, Einaudi still was denied
access for 30 months following the access that was granted to another historian Jean-Paul Brunet
who estimated that the death toll was about 30.[36]
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The official death toll was initially three, before the French government acknowledged in 1998 that
the massacre occurred and that "several dozen" people were killed.[37]
Prosecutions
No one has been prosecuted for participation in the killings, because they fell under the general
amnesty for crimes committed during the Algerian War.[38]
Commemoration and official recognition
Forty years after the massacre, on 17 October 2001, the event was officially acknowledged by the
city of Paris with the placement and unveiling of a memorial plaque to the victims of 1961 near the
Pont Saint-Michel, in the immediate vicinity of the police prefecture (préfecture de police).[6][7]
[39][40]
The establishment of an official memorial and thus also the commemorative plaque proposed by
the political left and supported by the Socialist mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, were however by
no means uncontroversial.[41] This was also evident in the debates on a draft resolution for the
commemorative plaque on 24 September 2001 in the Paris City Council (Conseil de Paris).[42][43]
The right-wing representatives opposed the proposed plaque, viewing it as a way of blaming the
political authorities in 1961 and not to recognise the reciprocal violence between the FLN and the
police.[44] Furthermore, concerns were raised regarding the potentially increasing threat of civil
unrest and terrorism.[7] Although it was the extreme right that first fiercely opposed the decision,
many centrist and left-wing politicians, including former Interior Minister Jean-Pierre
Chevènement, also did so, the latter because it could harm national cohesion.[45][46] The
opposition groups that ultimately rejected the draft resolution were the DL, RPR, Tibéristes and
UDF.[47] The tribute to the victims of 17 October 1961, was furthermore criticised by police unions
(Alliance, SGP-FO) who saw the action as an affront to the force and feared that bringing up the
events could lead to an alienation between the national police (Police nationale) and the French
people.[48]
The unveiling ceremony of the plaque took place without the presence of an official representative
of the Socialist government and the Élysée Palace, as well as in the absence of any local right-wing
politician.[49][50] Furthermore, a short distance from the Pont Saint-Michel another demonstration
was organised to protest against the tribute, with political representatives, right-wing and far-right
activists seeing the tribute as a "provocation".[51]
The inscription on the plaque reads “à la mémoire des nombreux Algériens tués lors de la sanglante
répression de la manifestation pacifique du 17 octobre 1961” (Engl.: “in memory of the many
Algerians killed during the bloody repression of the peaceful demonstration on 17 October 1961”)
and therefore remains very vague, addressing neither the agency of the perpetrators nor any kind
of responsibility. The chosen text was also criticised by historian Olivier LeCour Grandmaison,
president of the 17 October 1961 Association, declared to L'Humanité that
"if a step forward had been taken with the decision of the city of Paris to put a
commemorative plaque on the Pont Saint-Michel, [he] deplored that the text which was
chosen for it invokes neither the idea of a crime against humanity nor the responsibility
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of
the
author
of
the
crime,
the
state.
Thus,
in
no
case
does
this
Parisian
initiative
exempt
the
highest
national
authorities
from
On 17 October 2019, the Socialist Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, in the presence of the Secretary General of the
taking
Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Rachid Bladehane, elevated the plaque from 2001 and unveiled a steel
responsibility.
artwork depicting the hollowed silhouettes of demonstrators cut out on the waters of the Seine. [52]
In
addition,
if
[former
Socialist
Prime
minister]
Lionel
Jospin
personally
expressed
himself
last
year
[in
2000]
by
speaking
of
"tragic
events",
neither
the
police's
responsibility
in
9 of 18 17/10/2023, 12:06 pm
the crime nor that of those politically responsible at the time have been clearly
established, much less officially condemned."[53]
After the ceremony, Bertrand Delanoë, stated that it was important to come to terms with what had
happened and to move forward in unity.[54] The mayor went on and said that the plaque was not
directed against anyone but was rather intended to reassure the descendants of the victims that
they were part of the Parisian community.[55]
The local political controversies are also reflected in the fact that the commemorative plaque was
eventually placed on the Île de la Cité (4th arrondissement) rather than on the left bank of the
Seine, since the 5th arrondissement had a Gaullist mayor at the time.[56][57]
Later that day, Jacques Floch, the Secretary of State for Defence with responsibility for veterans,
justified Delanoë's gesture in front of the National Assembly and stated that the curfew in 1961
applied based on race, whereupon many RPR and Démocratie libérale deputies left the assembly,
expressing their disapproval of the political recovery of the tragic event.[58][7][59]
The events in 2001 clearly took place at the local level. No government official attended the
unveiling of the plaque and Bertrand Delanoë, as an elected official of the city of Paris, clearly
referred to the Parisian community. The fact that the recognition was carried out at the local level
was later increasingly scrutinized, and some suggest that the Paris initiative was intended to
diminish the requests for national recognition.[60] But even without an any official government
involvement, the installation of the plaque had an impact beyond Paris.[61][62]
“The image of the plaque resonates also in other cities around Paris as a corrective act
of the great national narrative. Plaques and the renaming of streets, squares and public
loci as ‘17 October 1961’ are memory initiatives that ensure the transition from state lie
to the historical transformation of one of the traumatic situations embedded along the
fractured lines between the colonial and the post-colonial. Plaques are akin to sites of
memory, part of the process of healing traumas by keeping them alive in the present
and represent the engagement of the post-colonial period towards correcting the
distortions of silenced history.”[63]
On 17 October 2012, President François Hollande acknowledged the 1961 massacre of Algerians in
Paris.[64] His acknowledgement of the event was the first time a French president had
acknowledged the massacre. This acknowledgement came two months before his address to
Algerian Parliament. In his address to the Algerian Parliament, he further renounced and
acknowledged the colonial past of France including the massacre that took place on the 17 October
1961.[65] This address has been found to be very controversial due to how President Hollande
framed French colonization and other content that was in the address. Some argue that despite
President Hollande's acknowledgement of the event, it will hold little value in changing the view of
France and their imperialistic history.[66]
On 16 October 2021, President Emmanuel Macron condemned the massacre on the eve of its 60th
anniversary, recognising officially that the French Republic had committed at this occasion
"unforgivable crimes", without however issuing a formal apology for such "unforgivable crimes", in
line with its stated policy consisting in recognising and acknowledging colonial crimes committed
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by the French Republic in the past, rather than formally apologising for them or asking for
forgiveness. Macron later attended a memorial ceremony for the victims becoming the first French
president to do so.[67]
In popular culture
▪ The massacre was referenced in “Bruno, Chief of Police,” a 2008
novel by Martin Walker.
▪ The massacre was referenced in Caché, a 2005 film by Michael
Haneke.
▪ The 2005 French television drama-documentary Nuit noire, 17
octobre 1961 explores in detail the events of the massacre. It
follows the lives of several people and also shows some of the
divisions within the Paris police, with some openly arguing for more
violence while others tried to uphold the rule of law.
▪ Drowning by Bullets, a television documentary in the British Secret
History series, first shown on 13 July 1992.
▪ The massacre is the subject of Leïla Sebbar's 1999 novel The
Seine was Red: Paris, October 1961 (La Seine était rouge (Paris,
octobre 1961)).
▪ The massacre is described in the opening verse of Irish punk rock
band Stiff Little Fingers song 'When The Stars Fall From The Sky'. A memorial plaque for
Algerians killed on 17
▪ French rapper Médine dedicates a song to the massacre on his
October 1961 by Parisian
album Table d'écoute.
police officers who were
▪ It forms the core of Didier Daeninckx' 1984 thriller Meurtres pour acting under orders of the
mémoire, which is also the first attempt to mine the archives of the Prefect of Police, Maurice
massacre through the form of a fictional enquiry. However, Papon.
expatriate American novelist and journalist William Gardner
Smith's 1963 novel The Stone Face is now recognized as the
earliest known fictional treatment of the events.[68] Although the death toll is listed in many
places at 140 dead or missing, writer and social critic Kristin Ross points out otherwise while
invoking Smith's and Daeninckx's work:
African-American novelist William Gardner Smith put the figure at "over two hundred"
in his 1963 novel, The Stone Face. It is a mark of the success surrounding the official
blackout of information about 17 October that Smith's novel, written by a foreigner in
France and published in the United States (it could not be published in France), would
stand as one of the few representations of the event available all the way up until the
early 1990s–until the moment, that is, when a generation of young Beurs, as the
children of North African immigrants call themselves, had reached an age at which they
could begin to demand information about their parents' fate. Professional or academic
historians have lagged well behind amateurs in the attempt to discover what occurred
on 17 October; investigative journalists, militants, and fiction writers like Smith, or the
much more widely read detective novelist, Didier Daeninckx, kept a trace of the event
alive during the thirty years when it had entered a "black hole" of memory.[68]
11 of 18 17/10/2023, 12:06 pm
▪ In 2013, Rachid Ouramdane produced a work during which Dorothée Munyaneza read out the
names of victims of the massacre.[69]
▪ In 2017, French comedian Jhon Rachid created a short film about the massacre, entitled Jour
de Pluie (Rainy Day).
▪ In 2021, The massacre was the subject in the short animated film "Les larmes de la Seine"
written by Yanis Belaid.
▪ The massacre and the French government's alleged cover-up are the subjects of Robert
Goddard's 2022 novel, "This Is the Night They Come for You"
See also
▪ 14 July 1953 demonstration France portal
▪ List of massacres in France
▪ Maghrebian community of Paris
▪ Oran massacre of 1962
▪ Sétif and Guelma massacre
Notes
1. French: Massacre de Paris en 1961
2. French: Massacre du 17 octobre 1961
References
1. Lia Brozgal (2020). Absent the Archive Cultural Traces of a Massacre in Paris, 17 October
1961. Liverpool University Press. p. 115. ISBN 978-1-78962-262-1.
2. Jill Jarvis (2021). Decolonizing Memory Algeria and the Politics of Testimony. Duke University
Press. p. 32. ISBN 978-1-4780-2141-4.
3. Rouaba, Ahmed (16 October 2021). "How a massacre of Algerians in Paris was covered up" (h
ttps://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-58927939). BBC News. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
4. See Einaudi (1991), La Bataille de Paris.
5. "A massacre of Algerians in the heart of Paris" (https://webdoc.france24.com/october-17-1961-
massacre-algerians-paris-france-police-history/index.html). FRANCE24. 17 October 1961.
Retrieved 24 January 2023.
6. Bernard, Phillipe (16 October 2001). "Le 17 octobre 1961, la réalité d'un massacre face à un
mensonge d'Etat" (https://web.archive.org/web/20041125041517/http://www.ldh-toulon.net/artic
le.php3?id_article=124) [17 October 1961, the reality of a massacre against a state lie]. Le
Monde (in French). Archived from the original (http://www.ldh-toulon.net/article.php3?id_article
=124) on 25 November 2004. Retrieved 7 May 2006.
7. "Paris marks Algerian protest 'massacre' " (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/monitoring/media_r
eports/1604970.stm). BBC News. 17 October 2001. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
8. "Une station de métro " 17 Octobre 1961 " ?" (https://web.archive.org/web/20071211113942/htt
p://www.saphirnews.com/Une-station-de-metro-17-Octobre-1961-_a6043.html) (in French).
Archived from the original (http://www.saphirnews.com/Une-station-de-metro-17-Octobre-1961-
_a6043.html) on 11 December 2007. Retrieved 9 December 2007.
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9. "Une station de métro près de Paris baptisée "17-Octobre-1961"?" (http://www.liberte-algerie.c

om/actualite/une-station-de-metro-pres-de-paris-baptisee-17-octobre-1961-39180). Liberté
(Algeria) (in French). 18 February 2007. Retrieved 25 October 2019.
10. See Einaudi & Rajsfus 2001.
11. Branche, Raphaëlle (2001). La Torture et l'Armée pendant la guerre d'Algérie (in French).
Gallimard. ISBN 2-07-076065-0.
12. Branche, Raphaëlle (18 November 2004). "The French army and torture during the Algerian
war" (https://web.archive.org/web/20071020184243/http://www.mfo.ac.uk/Publications/comptes
rendus/branche.htm). Archived from the original (http://www.mfo.ac.uk/Publications/comptesren
dus/branche.htm) on 20 October 2007.
13. Einaudi 1991, p.72
14. 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".
15. Einaudi & Rajsfus 2001, p.74
16. Einaudi & Rajsfus 2001, p.75
17. Cited by Einaudi 1991, p.76
18. Einaudi 1991, p.76
19. Report cited by Einaudi 1991, pp.76–79.
20. Einaudi 1991, p.79.
21. Léopold Lambert, “Chrono-cartographie du massacre du 17 octobre 1961” (https://vacarme.org
/article3082.html). October 2017.
22. Einaudi 1991, p.82.
23. "17 octobre 1961 : la longue liste de morts des archives de Paris" (https://www.humanite.fr/jour
nal/1997-10-23/1997-10-23-790094). L'Humanité (in French). 23 October 1997.
24. Maurice Papon, Vichy and Algeria (http://www.port.ac.uk/special/france1815to2003/chapter8/in
terviews/filetodownload,35748,en.pdf), dissertation by Stephanie Hare-Cuming, London School
of Economics
25. Jean-Paul Brunet, Police Contre FLN: Le drame d'octobre 1961, Paris: Flammarion, 1999
26. Concerning David Assouline's access to part of the Paris' Archives and the Monde quoting the
director, see "17 octobre 1961 : la longue liste de morts des archives de Paris" (https://www.hu
manite.fr/node/137622). L'Humanité. 23 October 1997.
27. Thibaud, Paul (November 2001). "Le 17 octobre 1961 : un moment de notre histoire" (https://es
prit.presse.fr/article/paul-thibaud/le-17-octobre-1961-un-moment-de-notre-histoire-9108). Esprit
(in French). Vol. 279, no. 11. pp. 6–19. JSTOR 24469742 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/2446974
2). Retrieved 26 October 2019.
28. Cited by Einaudi 1991, pp.309-311. See a transcript of the original text on this blog page (http://
police.etc.over-blog.net/article-17-octobre-1961-crimes-d-etat-111374516.html).
29. Cited by Einaudi 1991, p.85.
30. Einaudi 1991, p.83.
31. "Charonne, passé au scalpel de l'historien (interview with historian Alain Dewerpe, member of
the Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales)" (https://www.humanite.fr/journal/2006-02-0
7/2006-02-07-823528). L'Humanité. 6 February 2006.
32. "Charonne et le 17 octobre enfin réunis" (https://www.humanite.fr/journal/2006-02-11/2006-02-1
1-823808). L'Humanité. 11 February 2006.
33. Alain Dewerpe, Charonne, 8 février 1962, anthropologie historique d'un massacre d'Etat,
Gallimard, 2006
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34. "The Washington Report on the Middle East: The 1961 Massacre of Algerians in Paris: When
the media failed the test" (http://www.washington-report.org/backissues/0397/9703036.htm).
35. Cole, Joshua (2003). "Remembering the Battle of Paris: 17 October 1961 in French and
Algerian Memory" (https://www.jstor.org/stable/42843303). French Politics, Culture & Society.
21 (3): 21–50. doi:10.3167/153763703782370251 (https://doi.org/10.3167%2F1537637037823
70251). JSTOR 42843303 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/42843303). Retrieved 21 April 2021..
36. Whittaker, Tom (10 December 2020). "From the Archive. Paris 1961: a hidden massacre" (http
s://www.newframe.com/from-the-archive-paris-1961-a-hidden-massacre/). New Frame.
37. Ramdani, Nabila (16 October 2011). "The massacre that Paris denied" (https://www.theguardia
n.com/commentisfree/2011/oct/16/massacre-paris-denied). The Guardian. London. Retrieved
20 November 2015.
38. Morrow, Amanda (2 December 2010). "1961 - Algerians massacred on Paris streets" (https://w
ww.rfi.fr/en/visiting-france/20101202-1961-algerians-massacred-paris-streets). RFI. Retrieved
16 October 2021.
39. Cole, J. (2003). "Remembering the Battle of Paris: 17 October 1961 in French and Algerian
Memory" (http://www.jstor.org/stable/42843303). French Politics, Culture & Society. 21 (3): 42.
doi:10.3167/153763703782370251 (https://doi.org/10.3167%2F153763703782370251).
JSTOR 42843303 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/42843303).
40. Riceputi, F. (2021). Ici on noya les algériens: La bataille de Jean-Luc Einaudi pour la
reconnaissance du massacre policier et raciste du 17 octobre 1961. Paris: Le Passager
Clandestin. pp. 230–232. ISBN 978-2-36935-424-6.
41. House, J.; MacMaster, N. (2006). Paris 1961: Algerians, state terror, and memory. Oxford:
Oxford University Press. pp. 317–318. ISBN 978-0-19-924725-7.
43. Bernard, P.; Garin, C. (17 October 2011). "Archives du "Monde" (17 octobre 2001) – Le
massacre du 17 octobre 1961 obtient un début de reconnaissance officielle" (https://www.lemo
nde.fr/societe/article/2011/10/17/archives-du-monde-17-octobre-2001-le-massacre-du-17-octob
re-1961-obtient-un-debut-de-reconnaissance-officielle_1588198_3224.html). Le Monde.
Retrieved 1 March 2023.
45. Jelen, B. (2002). "17 octobre 1961 – 17 octobre 2001 Une commémoration ambiguë" (http://ww
w.jstor.org/stable/42843206). French Politics, Culture & Society. 20 (1): 34.
Oxford University Press. p. 318. ISBN 978-0-19-924725-7.
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51. Rosenman, A. D.; Valensi, L. (2004). La guerre d'Algérie dans la mémoire et l'imaginaire.
Saint-Denis: Éditions Bouchène. p. 219.
52. Ouariane, M. A.; AFP (17 October 2019). "Paris inaugure une stèle en hommage aux victimes
algériennes du 17 octobre 1961" (https://www.rtl.fr/actu/politique/paris-inaugure-une-stele-en-h
ommage-aux-victimes-algeriennes-du-17-octobre-1961-7799268720). RTL. Retrieved 1 March
2023.
53. Degoy, Lucien (17 October 2001). "17 OCTOBRE 1961 Olivier La Cour-Grandmaison: le
silence n'est plus de mise" (https://web.archive.org/web/20030927234615/http://humanite.fr/jou
rnal/2001-10-17/2001-10-17-251993). L'Humanité. Archived from the original (https://www.hum
anite.fr/journal/2001-10-17/2001-10-17-251993) on 27 September 2003.
57. Riceputi, F. (2021). Ici on noya les algériens: La bataille de Jean-Luc Einaudi pour la
reconnaissance du massacre policier et raciste du 17 octobre 1961. Paris: Le Passager
Clandestin. p. 232. ISBN 978-2-36935-424-6.
59. Ledoux, Sébastien (2016). Le devoir de mémoire. Une formule et son histoire (https://www.cnrs
editions.fr/catalogue/histoire/le-devoir-de-memoire/). Paris: CNRS Éditions. p. 23.
61. Lebas, C. (2007). "Au fil de nos souvenirs: le 17 octobre 1961, emblème des violences
policières" (https://journals.openedition.org/remmm/4293). Revue des mondes musulmans et
de la Méditerranée (119–120): 233–248. doi:10.4000/remmm.4293 (https://doi.org/10.4000%2F
remmm.4293).
62. Laronde, M. (2020). "17 October 1961" (https://doi.org/10.3828/liverpool/9781789620665.003.0
010). In Achille, E.; Forsdick, C.; Moudileno, L. (eds.). Postcolonial Realms of Memory.
pp. 113–114. doi:10.3828/liverpool/9781789620665.003.0010 (https://doi.org/10.3828%2Fliver
pool%2F9781789620665.003.0010). ISBN 9781789620665.
63. Laronde, M. (2020). "17 October 1961" (https://academic.oup.com/liverpool-scholarship-online/
book/34198/chapter-abstract/289604843?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false). Retrieved
1 March 2023.
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64. Hani, Tahar (18 October 2012). "Le 17 octobre 1961, 'ce jour qui n'ébranla pas Paris' " (http://w
ww.france24.com/fr/20121016-algerie-france-17-octobre-1961-jour-ebranla-pas-paris-jean-Luc-
einaudi-massacre-manifestation-guerre) (in French). France 24.
65. "France's Hollande acknowledges 1961 massacre of Algerians" (https://www.reuters.com/articl
e/us-france-algeria/frances-hollande-acknowledges-1961-massacre-of-algerians-idUSBRE89G
1NB20121017). Reuters. 17 October 2012.
66. Pecastaing, Camille (2013). "The politics of apology: Hollande and Algeria" (https://www.jstor.or
g/stable/43556163). World Affairs. 175 (6): 51–56. JSTOR 43556163 (https://www.jstor.org/sta
ble/43556163). Retrieved 21 April 2021..
67. "Macron condemns 'inexcusable' crackdown on 1961 Paris protest of Algerians" (https://www.w
ionews.com/world/macron-condemns-inexcusable-crackdown-on-1961-paris-protest-of-algeria
ns-421375). WION. Retrieved 17 October 2021.
68. Ross, Kristin (2002). May '68 And Its Afterlives. Chicago, IL & London: The University of
Chicago Press. p. 44. ISBN 978-0-226-72799-8.
69. Beauvallet, Ève (19 January 2015). "DOROTHÉE MUNYANEZA, UNE DANSEUSE DE HAUT
VOLT" (https://next.liberation.fr/theatre/2015/01/19/dorothee-munyaneza-une-danseuse-de-ha
ut-volt_1184051). Libération (in French). Retrieved 6 December 2018.
Sources
in English
▪ Daniel A. Gordon (2000). "World Reactions to the 1961 Paris Pogrom" (http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/i
d/eprint/1752/1/2._gordon_world_reactions_to_the_1961_paris_pogrom.pdf) (PDF). University
of Sussex Journal of Contemporary History. 1.
▪ Martin S. Alexander / J. F. V. Keiger: France and the Algerian War, 1954–62: Strategy,
Operations and Diplomacy. S. 24, 2002, ISBN 0-7146-5297-0
▪ Jean-Paul Brunet, « Police Violence in Paris, October 1961 : Historical Sources, Methods and
Conclusions (http://journals.cambridge.org/production/action/cjoGetFulltext?fulltextid=1813544)
", The Historical Journal, 51, 1 (2008), p. 195–204.
▪ Patrice J Proulx / Susan Ireland (Hrsg.): Immigrant Narratives in Contemporary France. S.
47–55, 2001, ISBN 0-313-31593-0
▪ Jim House, Neil MacMaster (2006). Paris 1961: Algerians, State Terror, and Memory, Oxford:
O. University Press, 2006 ISBN 0-19-924725-0
▪ Jim House, Neil MacMaster, « Time to move on : a reply to Jean-Paul Brunet (http://journals.ca
mbridge.org/production/action/cjoGetFulltext?fulltextid=1813556) ", The Historical Journal, 51,
1 (2008), p. 205–214.
in French
▪ Jean-Paul Brunet, Police Contre FLN: Le drame d'octobre 1961, Paris: Flammarion, 1999, 354
p.
▪ Jean-Paul Brunet, Charonne. Lumières sur une tragédie, Paris: Flammarion, 2003, 336 p.
▪ Didier Daeninckx: Meurtres pour mémoire, 1984, ISBN 2-07-040649-0 (novel)
▪ Alain Dewerpe, Charonne, 8 février 1962. Anthropologie historique d'un massacre d'Etat,
Gallimard, 2006, 870p.
16 of 18 17/10/2023, 12:06 pm
▪ Einaudi, Jean-Luc (1991). La bataille de Paris: 17 octobre 1961. ISBN 2-02-013547-7.

▪ Einaudi, Jean-Luc; Rajsfus, Maurice (2001). Les silences de la police : 16 juillet 1942—17
octobre 1961. L'Esprit frappeur. ISBN 9782844051738. OCLC 57507719 (https://www.worldcat.
org/oclc/57507719).
▪ Olivier LeCour Grandmaison, Le 17 octobre 1961 – Un crime d'État à Paris, collectif, Éditions
La Dispute, 2001.
▪ Sylvie Thénault, " Le fantasme du secret d'État autour du 17 octobre 1961 (http://www.persee.f
r/articleAsPDF/mat_0769-3206_2000_num_58_1_404254/article_mat_0769-3206_2000_num_
58_1_404254.pdf) ", Matériaux pour l'histoire de notre temps, n°58, April–June 2000, p. 70–76.
▪ Paul Thibaud, "17 Octobre 1961: un moment de notre histoire," in Esprit, November 2001
(concerning the debate between Einaudi and Brunet)
External links
▪ The Washington Report on the Middle East: The 1961 Massacre of Algerians in Paris: When
the media failed the test (http://www.washington-report.org/backissues/0397/9703036.htm)
▪ Flame: 35 Years ago the "Battle of Paris": When the Seine was full of bodies (http://www.fanto
mpowa.net/Flame/algerians_liberte.htm)
▪ Flame: Papon and the killing of 200 Algerians in Paris during 1961 (http://www.fantompowa.net
/Flame/algerians.htm)
▪ Pont Saint Michel (Saint Michel Bridge) (https://arunwithaview.wordpress.com/2011/10/17/le-17
-octobre-1961/)
▪ BBC report (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/monitoring/media_reports/1604970.stm)
▪ Un criminel s'en va dans l'impunité? (http://www.afrik.com/article11224.html), El Watan, 19
February 2007
▪ Amanda Morrow (2 December 2010). "1961 – Algerians massacred on Paris streets" (http://ww
w.english.rfi.fr/visiting-france/20101202-1961-algerians-massacred-paris-streets). Radio
France Internationale.
▪ Guardian article on 50th anniversary (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/oct/17/france-re
members-algerian-massacre)
▪ “Vacarme” (http://www.vacarme.eu.org/article1344.html) Interview with historian Alain Dewerpe
on his book Charonne, 8 février 1962. Anthropologie historique d'un massacre d'Etat, available
on the website of the French intellectual review .
▪ A list of the dead or missing (http://etudescoloniales.canalblog.com/archives/2012/01/22/23307
274.html).
▪ “17 octobre 1961: Retour sur les lieux” (https://player.vimeo.com/video/237718805) A 14' video
about the 1961 massacre, by French historian Mathilde Larrère (Arrêt sur images media
platform) (created 17 Oct 2017).
▪ “17 octobre 1961, un massacre colonial” (https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/086127-011-A/quand-l-hi
stoire-fait-dates/). A 27' documentary by Juliette Garcia. Video series “Quand l'histoire fait
dates (https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/RC-015950/quand-l-histoire-fait-dates/)”, produced by
historian Patrick Boucheron. Arte, France. October 2020.
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The French National Police

According to historian Jean-Luc Einaudi, a specialist on the massacre,

The vast majority of police officers suspended after the Liberation of

Papon appointed head of Police Prefecture (March 1958)

August 1958 raids

Creation of the CIV and the FPA militia (1959–1960)

current circumstances do not allow us to do so (…)[28]

8 February 1962 Charonne massacre

Historiography and recent events

Access to archives and number of deaths

Commemoration and official recognition

9. "Une station de métro près de Paris baptisée "17-Octobre-1961"?" (http://www.liberte-algerie.c

▪ Einaudi, Jean-Luc (1991). La bataille de Paris: 17 octobre 1961. ISBN 2-02-013547-7.

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