Philippe Grand, a former chief conservator at the Paris archives, was the first person to reveal evidence of the October 17, 1961 massacre of Algerians in the heart of Paris – one of the darkest chapters of postwar French history. Almost forty years after the hushed-up killings, testimonies by Grand and his colleague Brigitte Lainé helped ensure the massacre was finally recognised in a Paris court. As France marks the 60th anniversary of the atrocity, Grand spoke to FRANCE 24 about his role in safeguarding, and later revealing, the evidence.
On October 17, 1961, as Algeria’s bloody war of independence was coming to an end, the Paris federation of the Algerian National Liberation Front staged a protest against a night curfew applied only to Muslims from Algeria. French police brutally cracked down on protesters and in the following hours and days dozens of bodies were found in the Seine river, many with their hands tied behind their backs. Casualty number are still hotly disputed, with some historians saying around 200 people were killed. In the days following the massacre, prosecutors listed the victims’ names and how they were killed, but the Paris court dismissed the homicide cases and the files were piled up in the court’s attics and cellars.
It was only in 1997 that two conservators, Philippe Grand and Brigitte Lainé, revealed the secret documents in court, proveding the first irrefutable evidence of the massacre.
>> October 17, 1961: A massacre of Algerians in the heart of Paris
Philippe Grand told FRANCE 24 how he and his late friend and colleague helped uncover the massacre.
FRANCE 24: How did you discover the documents proving the massacre?
Philippe Grand: My colleague Brigitte Lainé and I used to transfer files from the Paris courthouse to the city’s archives in the late 1980s. When we got to the boxes for the years 1958 to 1962, we found the…
Source : france24
