The Algerian War, the French State and Official Memory

In this article, the author argues that France refused to recognize the Algerian War for Independence until 1999. He contends here that France did not want to recognize this conflict as a war but rather as a police action. This desire to forget one of the first massive anti-colonial efforts across the world could be seen throughout all aspects of French culture, from the lack of public monuments or ceremonies honoring the war, to the lower status given to those veterans from the conflict, even though 25,000 French soldiers died in the conflict and 60,000 were wounded. The author also argues that the story of the Algerian war concerns, among other things, the gap between the State and the public.