Philippe Grand, one of the key archivists of October 17, 1961

October 17, 1961: massacre of Algerians in the heart of Paris © France 24

On October 17, 1961, as the Algerian war almost came to an end, a demonstration was organized in Paris by the French Federation of the National Liberation Front (FLN) against the curfew imposed by the police headquarters on the French Muslims of Algeria.

She is violently repressed by the police, led by Maurice Papon.

Official assessment: three dead and sixty wounded, very far from reality according to historians. That evening and the following days, the Paris river brigade recovered dozens of bodies in the Seine, some specialists estimate their number at more than 200. The register of the public prosecutor's office and the archives of the Paris court are the first proofs of the massacre perpetrated .

The prosecution lists these cases as intentional homicides, but the examining magistrates are dismissed. The files are then classified and piled up in the cellars and attics of the Court of Paris. Almost 26 years later, two curators, Philippe Grand and Brigitte Lainé, responsible for transferring the files from the tribunal to the archives in Paris, discovered these boxes. They classify them but don't tell anyone about them. Historians who want to denounce the actions of the police are banned from the archives.

It was then that a historian, Jean-Luc Einaudi, denounced the massacre and accused Papon of being at the origin.

It was when the former prefect of Paris sued him for defamation that he asked the archivists to describe to the court the documents they had filed.

The court decides in favor of Einaudi, recognizing the massacre of October 17.

France 24 met Philippe Grand, former chief curator of the Paris archives, who recounts how he helped uncover the massacre of October 17, 1961.

France 24

Philippe Grand

 : My colleague Brigitte Lainé and I went regularly to the Paris courthouse at the end of the 1980s to transfer the documents to the archives of Paris.

When we worked on the collection from 1958 to 1962, we found the record of the period of the massacre, October 17, 1961 and the days that followed.

We found a regular series of records from the prosecution on the one hand, then cases of dismissal on the other.

Prosecutor's records are very short. You have the name of the victim, but in general there is no name but the mention 'FMA', for French Muslim from Algeria, then a stamp with the word 'death'. The cause of death then: "recovered from the Bezons or Neuilly bridge on such and such a day, found in the public garden of ... with traces of strangulation with the contraption, the baton of the time, or shot dead." Horrors like this.

As for the archives of the investigating judges who had investigated these murders, they confirmed this, without providing much more information.

The instructions were closed very quickly.

The investigation was short since there was no way of knowing who, what, how.

None of the files contained the names of police officers.

I think those that contained it are gone.

You have to understand that it wasn't just October 17.

There were murders before and after that day.

It was the worst massacre since Saint Bartholomew.

Finding these documents marked me a lot.

We used to see archives of murder cases, but there was really a lot.

I'm ashamed to say it, but the first time I discovered the files I only read the documents diagonally.

My first feeling was the fear, the fear that these documents would be destroyed or concealed.

We therefore archived everything, but we did not alert anyone to their existence.

The concealment of evidence and destruction of evidence exists, even in the archives at this time, I'm ashamed to say it.

We had reason to fear a cleansing or destruction of documents.

So we have listed and classified everything.

It was only ten years later that Mr. Jean-Luc Einaudi called us to testify in court.

How did these documents finally come to light and how did you end up testifying in court

Everyone knew that there were important judicial holdings in the archives of Paris, but no one knew what exactly they contained.

There were regular losses and problems during the transfer of archives.

Jean-Luc Einaudi, who had written a marvelous book with testimonies on the massacre ["The Battle of Paris", published in 1991], had multiplied the requests for exemption to consult the archives, but all his requests were rejected.

The case became urgent since in 1997 Maurice Papon was prosecuted for his role in the deportation of Jews from Bordeaux during the war.

Jean-Luc Einaudi wanted to testify on the role that Maurice Papon had in the massacre of 1961.

He contacted David Assouline, who was not yet a senator at the time, who called us and had the good idea to ask me an open question: "What did you have on October 17, 1961?". I explained to him that the registers of the prosecution can be consulted but that for the archives of the investigation, it was necessary to make a request for exemption. David Assouline told me that the matter was too urgent. I received it while we were closed. He asked to make photocopies of the searchable registers which then appeared in Liberation.

The newspaper mentioned my name and that's where my troubles started.

The directors of the archives considered that the registers were not searchable.

An administrative investigation was launched against me, but I knew that I had not broken any rules or professional secrecy.

While defending myself, I testified for Jean-Luc Einaudi, a first time and then a second time in writing during the libel suit brought against him by Maurice Papon [in 1999].

In court, I said that the documents in the archives fully confirmed his descriptions of the massacres.

I described the methods of execution, the strangulation with the contraption, the baton used at the time, other victims were knocked out and thrown into the Seine, sometimes these people were thrown not knocked out at all.

Sometimes the victims would float and they would be shot.

Corpses were found in the Ourcq canal and in the Marne.

I saw about 150 investigation files, 50 or 100 other people were cited indirectly.

They contained written testimonies from people who witnessed the execution of North Africans.

But on the side of the river brigades, on the Seine, and downstream in the Eure and Seine Maritime, the archives have disappeared.

After having testified at the trial of Jean-Luc Einaudi you are 'put in the closet'

The administrative investigation was like a police-type interrogation with a violent tone: “Do you recognize this…?”.

I knew the people who questioned me and it shocked me a bit.

I've never seen that.

But, with Brigitte Lainé, we have always considered that we were legal, that we did not violate professional secrecy.

We have been summoned by the judge and withholding information is a crime.

This is very serious.

After the second lawsuit, the one brought by Maurice Papon against Jean-Luc Einaudi, we were threatened with disciplinary advice and dismissal.

After that it was over for me.

The administration denied me access to the various archives where I worked, such as those of the prisons and even the courthouse.

Some archivists have a 19th century mentality, they are zealous in thinking they are defending the image of France.

For them, it went without saying that we should not talk about the archives of October 17.

At the same time, I knew it would go wrong, but it was my duty to say what I knew.

Moreover, I do not agree with those who have defended us by saying that we have a high civic sense and that our sense of citizenship has taken over.

No, we only did our job.

No more no less.

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