Eighty years ago, as victory over Nazi Germany was celebrated across Europe, a different story unfolded in French-occupied Algeria. In the city of Sétif, thousands of Algerians took to the streets to demand dignity, equality, and freedom. What followed was a massacre—one that would forever scar Franco-Algerian relations and set Algeria on the path to armed struggle and liberation.
Key Facts
What happened: French colonial forces massacred thousands of Algerians during protests in Sétif, Guelma, and Kherrata on 8 May 1945.
Estimated death toll: Algerian sources claim 45,000; historians estimate between 8,000 and 20,000.
Cause: Algerians protested for independence and were met with military and settler violence.
Aftermath: The massacres radicalised Algerian nationalists and led to the 1954–1962 War of Independence.
Current status: Algeria commemorates 8 May as National Remembrance Day; France has yet to issue a full state apology.
A Celebration Turned Bloodbath
On 8 May 1945, around 10,000 Algerians gathered in Sétif to mark the Allied victory in World War II. While French authorities had authorised the rally, they forbade the display of any flag other than that of France. Defiantly, Algerians carried their own national symbols and chanted for independence, shouting slogans like “Free Messali Hadj” and “Down with colonialism.”
When a 14-year-old flag-bearer, Saal Bouzid, was shot by a French policeman, violence erupted. European settlers present at the rally were attacked, and within hours, French authorities launched a brutal crackdown that would last for weeks.
What followed was one of the bloodiest chapters in France’s colonial history: arbitrary arrests, air raids, mass executions, and entire villages razed. Estimates of the death toll vary. Algeria maintains that 45,000 people were killed, while French records of the time claimed 1,500 Algerians and 103 Europeans died. Historians today estimate between 8,000 and 20,000 were killed.
A Colonial Wound That Would Not Heal
The Sétif, Guelma and Kherrata massacres were not merely tragic incidents—they were a turning point. For many Algerians, the events exposed the hollowness of France’s promises of liberty, especially to the colonial troops who had fought for Allied victory in Europe. Upon returning home, these veterans found their families devastated by French bombs and bullets.
“Veterans who had fought for France returned to find villages destroyed and relatives missing. This disillusionment turned hope into anger,” noted French-Algerian historian Benjamin Stora.
The massacre convinced a generation of Algerian nationalists that peaceful negotiation was futile. Less than a decade later, on 1 November 1954, the Algerian War of Independence began—a brutal conflict that would eventually lead to Algeria’s liberation in 1962.
Silence in France, Memory in Algeria
For decades, France maintained near-total silence on the events of May 1945. Charles de Gaulle, leader of Free France and head of state at the time, made only passing mention of Sétif in his memoirs. Survivors were imprisoned, witnesses silenced, and history whitewashed.
Two voices dared to challenge this silence: José Aboulker, a Resistance hero, and Nobel laureate Albert Camus. Camus, in particular, criticised the colonial mindset that treated Algerians as “subhuman”, and warned of the lasting damage such policies would cause.
It wasn’t until 2005 that a French ambassador, Hubert Colin de Verdière, described the Sétif massacre as an “inexcusable tragedy.” Subsequent symbolic gestures by officials, such as wreath-laying ceremonies and cautious public acknowledgements, have been made—but no French president has formally apologised or classified the massacre as a state crime.
Algeria’s Day of National Remembrance
Since 2020, Algeria has marked 8 May as National Remembrance Day—a solemn counterpoint to Europe’s Victory Day celebrations. This year, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune called the massacre a “genocidal act” and a crime against humanity, while praising the resilience and sacrifice of the Algerian people.
“The commemoration of May 8 reflects the Algerians’ commitment to freedom and dignity,” said Tebboune. “They took to the streets with bare hands to confront an enemy armed with colonial arrogance.”
A delegation of French left-wing MPs also attended commemorative events this year, calling on President Emmanuel Macron to formally recognise the Sétif massacre as a “state crime.” MP Danièle Simonnet described the killings as a “massacre of unarmed civilians” and urged France to “put words to the truth.”
Still a Wound Between Nations
Despite gestures of goodwill, memory remains a contested terrain. Political tensions, such as France’s 2023 recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, have derailed joint efforts to reconcile historical narratives. A French-Algerian historian commission formed in 2022 has not met in over a year.
In France, public and political reaction remains divided. While some see calls for recognition as necessary acts of justice, others, particularly on the right, view them as unnecessary self-flagellation.
“The day of 8 May is a day of national pride,” said right-wing politician Laurent Wauquiez. “To go to Algeria and apologise is to humiliate France.”
But for those whose families still carry the trauma of May 1945, recognition is not humiliation—it is long-overdue truth.
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