{"product_id":"1999-france-culture-panorama-interview-de-j-l-einaudi-le-proces-papon-le-17-octobre-1961","title":"1999 - France Culture Panorama - Interview with J.-L. Einaudi \/ The Papon Trial \/ October 17, 1961","description":"\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e \u003cspan\u003eFrance Culture –\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003ePanorama.\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003eDate:\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003eMay 1, 1999\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e Contents: Interview with J.-L. Einaudi \/ The Papon trial \/ October 17, 1961 \/ The reasons for his interest in these events \/ His working and research methods \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WMJulmX69gM?si=FhxWVBwqWSd-_Rf2\" title=\"YouTube video player\"\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n \u003cp\u003eThe research and testimonies of Jean-Luc Einaudi, historian and researcher, concerning the events of October 17, 1961 in Paris. He draws on his book \u003ci\u003eThe Battle of Paris October 17, 1961\u003c\/i\u003e (1991), his legal action against Maurice Papon, and direct testimonies from the time.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e The Context of the Event (October 1961)\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e The massacre was part of the final phase of the Algerian War, which had lasted for seven years. The atmosphere in mainland France was marked by extreme tension and a crisis at the highest levels of government.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\n\u003cli\u003e\n\n \u003cb\u003eNegotiations on hold:\u003c\/b\u003e Peace talks had broken down in July 1961 due to disagreements over the future of the Sahara and its oil resources.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\n\u003cli\u003e\n\n \u003cb\u003ePolitical crisis:\u003c\/b\u003e A deep divergence existed between Charles de Gaulle, who wanted to end the war, and his Prime Minister Michel Debré, who favored a hard line.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\n\u003cli\u003e \n\u003cb\u003eOAS terrorism:\u003c\/b\u003e The Secret Armed Organization carried out numerous attacks. In September 1961, an assassination attempt targeted De Gaulle.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\n\u003cli\u003e\n\n \u003cb\u003eViolence against the police:\u003c\/b\u003e Between the end of August and the beginning of October 1961, 11 police officers were killed in Paris and the suburbs by armed groups of the FLN, exacerbating a desire for revenge within the police force.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\n\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e The Special Regime for Algerians\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e Under the authority of Police Prefect Maurice Papon, a climate of collective repression had taken hold. Although officially \"Muslim French citizens of Algeria,\" Algerians lived under a regime of police terror. A few days before the massacre, a discriminatory curfew was imposed, prohibiting Algerians from going out after 8 p.m. or from being in groups of more than two during the day.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e The Course of the Massacre of October 17th\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n \u003cp\u003eThe demonstration of October 17, 1961, was organized by the FLN to peacefully protest against the curfew. Jean-Luc Einaudi points out that there were no clashes between two sides, but a veritable \"manhunt\".\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e Deadly and Systematic Violence\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\n\u003cli\u003e\n\n \u003cb\u003eRacial nature:\u003c\/b\u003e The police forces targeted individuals based on their physical appearance (\"racially discriminatory typology\"). Italians and Spaniards were also rounded up by mistake.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\n\u003cli\u003e\n\n \u003cb\u003eLack of resistance:\u003c\/b\u003e The protesters were unarmed and offered no resistance. No police officers were wounded by gunfire that day.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\n\u003cli\u003e\n\n \u003cb\u003ePlaces of repression:\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\n\u003cli\u003e\n\n \u003cb\u003eThe Grands Boulevards:\u003c\/b\u003e Near the Le Rex cinema, police opened fire on a peaceful procession.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\n\u003cli\u003e\n\n \u003cb\u003eNeuilly Bridge:\u003c\/b\u003e Shots were fired at protesters coming from the shantytowns of Nanterre.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\n\u003cli\u003e\n\n \u003cb\u003eThe Seine:\u003c\/b\u003e Many Algerians were thrown into the river, sometimes from the top of the bridges of Paris.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\n\u003cli\u003e \n\u003cb\u003ePolice Prefecture:\u003c\/b\u003e Witnesses report a massacre of around fifty people in the courtyard of the prefecture itself.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\n\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\n\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e Places of Internment\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e More than 10,000 people were arrested. Papon requisitioned RATP buses to transport prisoners to centers such as the Palais des Sports or the Parc des Expositions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ctable border=\"1\"\u003e\n\n\u003ctbody\u003e\n\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\n\u003ctd\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e Place\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\n\u003ctd\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e Description of the Violence\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\n\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\n\u003ctd\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eSports Palace\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\n\u003ctd\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e The practice of \"welcoming committees\": prisoners passed between two lines of police officers who systematically beat them on the head or genitals.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\n\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\n\u003ctd\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003ePolice Headquarters\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\n\u003ctd\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e Summary executions reported by Republican police sources.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\n\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\n\u003ctd\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eInternment centers\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\n\u003ctd\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e Torture and violence against defenseless wounded people.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\n\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\n\n\u003c\/tbody\u003e\n\n\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e Testimonies and Evidence of the Atrocity\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e The testimony of \u003cb\u003eGérard Grange\u003c\/b\u003e , at the time a seminarian and student nurse requisitioned to the Palais des Sports, confirms the horror of the events:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\n \u003cli\u003eHe describes police officers (in uniform and in plain clothes) beating prisoners with wooden planks.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\n\u003cli\u003e He personally saw nine lifeless bodies piled up in a warehouse.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\n\u003cli\u003e He reports gunfire in makeshift toilets and the screams of tortured people.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\n\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e Despite the seriousness of these events, the religious and military authorities of the time, alerted by Grange and his comrades, downplayed them, claiming that \"if it were true, we would have known\".\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e The Assessment: Between Official Figures and Historical Reality\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e The cover-up of the massacre was immediate and deliberate, both by the police prefecture and by the political authorities.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\n\u003cli\u003e\n\n \u003cb\u003eOfficial toll at the time:\u003c\/b\u003e 3 dead.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\n\u003cli\u003e\n\n \u003cb\u003eJean-Luc Einaudi's estimates:\u003c\/b\u003e He puts the number of victims at more than 200, or even 300 dead and missing.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\n\u003cli\u003e \n\u003cb\u003eAdditional information:\u003c\/b\u003e A massive increase in the number of drownings was noted by the Attorney General of the Paris Court of Appeal. At the Forensic Institute, more than 100 bodies were reportedly received in a short period, some of which were thrown back into the Seine due to lack of space.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\n\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e The Battle for Memory and Judicial Truth\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e For decades, the event was suppressed. It was only through the work of researchers like Einaudi and the context of the Bordeaux trial against Maurice Papon (for complicity in crimes against humanity under Vichy) that the truth resurfaced.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e The Defamation Trial (1999)\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e In 1998, Maurice Papon sued Jean-Luc Einaudi for defamation following an article in \u003ci\u003eLe Monde\u003c\/i\u003e . This trial became a platform for the truth.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003col\u003e\n\n\u003cli\u003e\n\n \u003cb\u003eRecognition of the massacre:\u003c\/b\u003e For the first time, the deputy prosecutor described the events of October 17, 1961 as a \"massacre\".\u003c\/li\u003e\n\n\u003cli\u003e \n\u003cb\u003eHistorian acquitted:\u003c\/b\u003e Einaudi was acquitted on the grounds of good faith. The 30-page judgment took into account the extensive testimonies and documents.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\n\u003cli\u003e\n\n \u003cb\u003ePapon's failure:\u003c\/b\u003e Papon hoped that a conviction of Einaudi would discredit the testimony that the latter had given in Bordeaux.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\n\n\u003c\/ol\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003e The Obstacle of the Archives\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e Despite progress, access to archives remains a point of contention. Jean-Luc Einaudi denounces the persistent refusal to allow him to consult the archives of the Paris Police Prefecture and the Paris Public Prosecutor's Office. He also contests the methodology of the Mandelkern report (commissioned by the Ministry of the Interior), which tends to downplay the record by relying on a partial reading of official documents.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e Key Quotes\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e \"There was a massacre in Paris that day, a massacre perpetrated by police forces acting under the orders of Maurice Papon.\" — \u003cb\u003eJean-Luc Einaudi\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n \u003cp\u003e“We were in a democratic system [...] and within that system, there was a segment of the population [...] living under a system that was not at all democratic.” — \u003cb\u003eJean-Luc Einaudi\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e \"I saw nine bodies on the ground, dead... I also witnessed Algerians being machine-gunned in the makeshift toilets.\" — \u003cb\u003eGérard Grange\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e \"Do we recognize, or do we not recognize, that every human life is worth as much as every other life, and that every life has equal value to every other life, or not?\" — \u003cb\u003eJean-Luc Einaudi\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Archives de Jean-Luc Einaudi","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52702265213271,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0902\/6781\/2183\/files\/jean-luc-einaudi_1_6e47ecef-fe3a-4975-990a-9c803b570b0e.png?v=1769856166","url":"https:\/\/jean-luc-einaudi.fr\/en\/products\/1999-france-culture-panorama-interview-de-j-l-einaudi-le-proces-papon-le-17-octobre-1961","provider":"Les Ami.e.s de Jean-Luc Einaudi","version":"1.0","type":"link"}