The French historian Benjamin Stora responded to the Algerians' criticisms regarding his report on "reconciliation of memory", by publishing an article on Monday in an Algerian newspaper published from Oran.

Stora - who presented his report to French President Emmanuel Macron last Wednesday - was widely criticized in some Algerian media outlets;

For not taking a position to offer Paris an apology for its colonial past in Algeria.

And historian Stora wrote an article in Le Quotidien de Oran, a French newspaper, in which he said that, in the face of complex history, “my report specifically proposes a method that favors education and culture, through knowing the other, and all the groups that participated in Algerian history.” .

The French historian responded to his critics by saying, "Letters of apology should not be words uttered one day to get rid of a very deep problem the next day," expressing his regret for the delay that occurred in France as well as in Algeria to accomplish "this educational work."

"I have simply suggested in my report a method of my own that I have been using for a long time: knowing the motives, and the path of all memory groups afflicted by this devastating war, while being patient to limit ready-made and racist ideas."

The official response

There was no official reaction from the Algerian authorities after the publication of Stora's report on colonialism and the Algerian war, which was entrusted by President Macron last July.

Abdel Majid Cheikhi, the advisor to the Algerian president for historical affairs and assigned to work with the French historian, attributed that no official position had been issued by Algeria to the fact that the latter "had not officially received the French report, and could not respond to what was mentioned in the press."

In a statement to the Algerian newspaper, Al-Watan, Sheikhi added that "relations between countries do not proceed like this."

However, many of the criticisms extended to Stora in the local media, and from the Algerians who particularly denounced the failure to propose the principle of "apology" for the colonial past. Former minister and diplomat Abdelaziz Rahabi says that Stora's report "does not take into account the main historical demand of Algerians, which is France's recognition of crimes." colonization".

Professor of history at the University of Algiers, Mohsen Lahcen Zghidi, said in a statement to Al-Jazeera that the Stora report "consecrates the idea of ​​subordination and tutelage, and the myth of the French Empire that orders it to obey."

Algerian historians say that the French report on memory is an expression of an arrogant view of France’s handling of its occupation history in Algeria.

After Benjamin Stora's report ... France refuses to apologize to Algeria for its crimes pic.twitter.com/My1sdi1P1r

- EL BILAD - Albilad (@El_Bilade) January 21, 2021

On the other hand, Algerian historian Fouad Soufi said in an interview with Agence France-Presse that the Stora report could open the door to a discussion on reconciliation between France and Algeria "away from the political debate."

Sofi, a specialist in contemporary Algerian history and an expert in archives, admitted the complexity of the task entrusted by President Macron to the historian Stora, due to the "colonial nostalgia" currents.

Stora Recommendations

Among the most prominent recommendations contained in the Stora report is the formation of a "memory and truth" committee in France, charged with launching joint initiatives between France and Algeria on memory issues.

The report also recommended the continuation of the remembrance of the various symbolic dates of the Algerian war (the Evian Accords of March 19, 1962, the National Day of the Algerian activists who fought on the side of the French army in Algeria, and the suppression of the demonstrations of Algerians in France on October 17, 1961).

The report called for publishing a "guide for the missing" Algerians and Europeans during the Algeria war, facilitating the movement of activists and their children between France and Algeria, and encouraging care for European cemeteries in Algeria, as well as the cemeteries of Jews and Algerian Muslim soldiers who died fighting alongside France during the Algerian war.