La Question
Encyclopedia
La Question is a book by Henri Alleg
, published in 1958. It is notorious for precisely describing the methods of torture
used by French paratroopers during the Algerian War from the point of view of a victim. La Question was censored in France after selling 60,000 copies in two weeks.
He wrote the autobiographical account in the Barberousse prison of Algiers
. He managed to smuggle out the pages with the help of his lawyers.
camps. La Question opens with the statement: "by attacking corrupt Frenchmen, it is France that I am defending".(En attaquant les Français corrompus, c’est la France que je défends.) La Question then narrates Alleg's arrest on 12 June 1957 by paratroopers of Jacques Massu
's 10e Division Parachutiste. Alleg was visiting Maurice Audin
, who had been arrested the day before and whose apartment the paratroopers had turned into a trap.
Alleg was detained at El-Biar, where he was tortured. The paratroopers first attempted to intimidate him by bringing in Audin, who had already been tortured the day before. He told Alleg that "it's tough, Henri" (c'est dur, Henri). Alleg writes that he did not know he was seeing his friend for the last time. Nevertheless Alleg refused to talk.
Alleg notably sustained water torture
which he describes in the following account of what is now known as waterboarding
He suffered torture by electricity, and was threatened with summary execution. Alleg describes in precise details the two types of hand generators (the so-called "gégène", in Army inventory to power radio communication equipment) used for this purpose and their effect on the body.
After physical duress and psychological pressure proved ineffective, Alleg was injected with pentothal, which also failed to make him talk.
Alleg describes hearing cries from other detainees, notably voices of a woman who he thought was his wife. He also reports hearing what he thought was Audin's execution.
After all efforts to make him talk failed, Alleg was first threatened with execution, and did believe he would be executed. Actually, an official attempted to exchange his return to civil justice against signing a testimony of good treatment by the paratroopers; Alleg refused to comply, and was eventually returned to civil justice without condition.
La Question was published on 18 February 1958 by the Éditions de Minuit, with a preface by Jean-Paul Sartre
; Several newspapers which reported its publication had their issues confiscated by the police, upon a request by the military tribunal of Paris, and the book itself was censored on 27 March, after selling 60,000 copies. The motive invoked was "contribution to an endeavour to demoralise the Army, with the aim to hinder National Defence."
Two weeks later, Nils Andersson published it again at the Éditions de la Cité in Lausanne
, Switzerland
..
Though articles pertaining to or citing the book, the memoir itself became a "near bestseller and a subject of lively debate" in France. The French government also seized an article published in L’Express in which Jean-Paul Sartre
outlined the implications of Alleg’s book for the French nation. Still, the essay was circulated secretly to become the preface to the book’s English translation.
The French government officially banned La Question to deal with the increasingly tense political atmosphere. Acting on a warrant from the military tribunal which began legal action against what it claimed was "attempted demoralization of the Army with intent to harm the defense of the nation," French authorities seized the 7,000 remaining copies at the Èditions de minuit publishing house on the 27th of March 1958; however, the 60,000 copies that had already been sold continued to circulate, and due to defiant publishers continuing the work throughout the Algerian war, there were more than 162,000 copies in France by the close of 1958.
The book was instrumental in revealing the extent to which torture was used in Algeria by the French Army; the methods used; how it maintained a low profile in the public opinion; and how torture had slipped from being used on terrorists, under preemptive, "ticking time bomb scenario
" excuses, to being used freely to terrorise political opponents and the general population.
La Question was adapted to cinema in 1977 by Laurent Heynemann.
Henri Alleg
Henri Alleg , born Henri Salem, is a French-Algerian journalist, director of the "Alger républicain" newspaper, and a member of the French Communist Party...
, published in 1958. It is notorious for precisely describing the methods of torture
Torture during the Algerian War
Elements of the French Armed Forces as well as of the opposing Algerian National Liberation Front made use of torture during the Algerian War of Independence , creating an ongoing public controversy. Pierre Vidal-Naquet estimates that there were "possibly hundreds of thousands of instances of...
used by French paratroopers during the Algerian War from the point of view of a victim. La Question was censored in France after selling 60,000 copies in two weeks.
Author
Henri Alleg, a journalist, was formerly editor of the newspaper Alger Républicain, who went underground when its publication was banned. The resulting interrogation aimed at identifying the people who had supported him, and whom Alleg was determined to protect.He wrote the autobiographical account in the Barberousse prison of Algiers
Algiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...
. He managed to smuggle out the pages with the help of his lawyers.
Subject
The book is a chronological account of the author's imprisonment and ordeals in El-Biar and then LodiLodi
-Places:In Canada:* Lodi, Ontario, a community in North Stormont, OntarioIn Italy:* Lodi, Lombardy, in the Province of Lodi of the Lombardy region** The Treaty of Lodi, 1454 between Italian city-states** The Battle of Lodi, 1796 in Lodi...
camps. La Question opens with the statement: "by attacking corrupt Frenchmen, it is France that I am defending".(En attaquant les Français corrompus, c’est la France que je défends.) La Question then narrates Alleg's arrest on 12 June 1957 by paratroopers of Jacques Massu
Jacques Massu
Jacques Émile Massu was a French general who fought in World War II, the First Indochina War, the Algerian War and the Suez crisis.-Early life:Jacques Massu was born in Châlons-sur-Marne to a family of military officers; his father was an artillery officer...
's 10e Division Parachutiste. Alleg was visiting Maurice Audin
Maurice Audin
Maurice Audin was a French mathematics assistant at the University of Algiers, a member of the Algerian Communist Party and an activist in the anticolonialist cause, who was one of the "disappeared" during the Battle of Algiers.In the centre of Algiers, beside the university, the intersection of...
, who had been arrested the day before and whose apartment the paratroopers had turned into a trap.
Alleg was detained at El-Biar, where he was tortured. The paratroopers first attempted to intimidate him by bringing in Audin, who had already been tortured the day before. He told Alleg that "it's tough, Henri" (c'est dur, Henri). Alleg writes that he did not know he was seeing his friend for the last time. Nevertheless Alleg refused to talk.
Alleg notably sustained water torture
Water torture
-Forced ingestion:In this form of water torture, water is forced down the throat and into the stomach. It was used as a legal torture and execution method by the courts in France in the 17th and 18th century, was employed against Americans and Chinese during World War II by the Japanese, and was...
which he describes in the following account of what is now known as waterboarding
Waterboarding
Waterboarding is a form of torture in which water is poured over the face of an immobilized captive, thus causing the individual to experience the sensation of drowning...
...they picked up the plank to which I was still attached and carried me into the kitchen. ... fixed a rubber tube to the metal tap which shone just above my face. He wrapped my head in a rag... When everything was ready, he said to me: 'When you want to talk, all you have to do is move your fingers.' And he turned on the tap. The rag was soaked rapidly. Water flowed everywhere: in my mouth, in my nose, all over my face. But for a while I could still breathe in some small gulps of air. I tried, by contracting my throat, to take in as little water as possible and to resist suffocation by keeping air in my lungs for as long as I could. But I couldn’t hold on for more than a few moments. I had the impression of drowning, and a terrible agony, that of death itself, took possession of me. In spite of myself, all the muscles of my body struggled uselessly to save me from suffocation. In spite of myself, the fingers of both my hands shook uncontrollably. ‘That’s it! He’s going to talk,’ said a voice.
He suffered torture by electricity, and was threatened with summary execution. Alleg describes in precise details the two types of hand generators (the so-called "gégène", in Army inventory to power radio communication equipment) used for this purpose and their effect on the body.
I felt a difference in quality. Instead of sharp and quick bites that seemed to rip my body apart, it was now a larger pain that sank more deeply into all my muscles and twisted them for longer (je sentis une différence de qualité. Au lieu de morsures aiguës et rapides qui semblaient me déchirer le corps, c’était maintenant une douleur plus large qui s’enfonçait profondément dans tous mes muscles et les tordait plus longuement)
After physical duress and psychological pressure proved ineffective, Alleg was injected with pentothal, which also failed to make him talk.
Alleg describes hearing cries from other detainees, notably voices of a woman who he thought was his wife. He also reports hearing what he thought was Audin's execution.
After all efforts to make him talk failed, Alleg was first threatened with execution, and did believe he would be executed. Actually, an official attempted to exchange his return to civil justice against signing a testimony of good treatment by the paratroopers; Alleg refused to comply, and was eventually returned to civil justice without condition.
Redaction, publication and censorship
Alleg was transferred to Lodi camp for one month, and later to the civil prison of Barberousse, where he was returned to the regular legal circuits. There, he secretly redacted the text of La Question, which he transmitted through his lawyers, bit by bit.La Question was published on 18 February 1958 by the Éditions de Minuit, with a preface by Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the leading figures in 20th century French philosophy, particularly Marxism, and was one of the key figures in literary...
; Several newspapers which reported its publication had their issues confiscated by the police, upon a request by the military tribunal of Paris, and the book itself was censored on 27 March, after selling 60,000 copies. The motive invoked was "contribution to an endeavour to demoralise the Army, with the aim to hinder National Defence."
Two weeks later, Nils Andersson published it again at the Éditions de la Cité in Lausanne
Lausanne
Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
..
Though articles pertaining to or citing the book, the memoir itself became a "near bestseller and a subject of lively debate" in France. The French government also seized an article published in L’Express in which Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the leading figures in 20th century French philosophy, particularly Marxism, and was one of the key figures in literary...
outlined the implications of Alleg’s book for the French nation. Still, the essay was circulated secretly to become the preface to the book’s English translation.
The French government officially banned La Question to deal with the increasingly tense political atmosphere. Acting on a warrant from the military tribunal which began legal action against what it claimed was "attempted demoralization of the Army with intent to harm the defense of the nation," French authorities seized the 7,000 remaining copies at the Èditions de minuit publishing house on the 27th of March 1958; however, the 60,000 copies that had already been sold continued to circulate, and due to defiant publishers continuing the work throughout the Algerian war, there were more than 162,000 copies in France by the close of 1958.
The book was instrumental in revealing the extent to which torture was used in Algeria by the French Army; the methods used; how it maintained a low profile in the public opinion; and how torture had slipped from being used on terrorists, under preemptive, "ticking time bomb scenario
Ticking time bomb scenario
The ticking time bomb scenario is a thought experiment that has been used in the ethics debate over whether torture can ever be justified.Simply stated, the consequentialist argument is that nations, even those such as the United States that legally disallow torture, can justify its use if they...
" excuses, to being used freely to terrorise political opponents and the general population.
Aftermath
Enquiries followed, during which Alleg proved able to accurately describe parts of El-Biar which detainees would not visit in the course of a normal detention, such as the kitchen where he was submitted to water torture.La Question was adapted to cinema in 1977 by Laurent Heynemann.
See also
- Torture during the Algerian WarTorture during the Algerian WarElements of the French Armed Forces as well as of the opposing Algerian National Liberation Front made use of torture during the Algerian War of Independence , creating an ongoing public controversy. Pierre Vidal-Naquet estimates that there were "possibly hundreds of thousands of instances of...
- Censorship in FranceCensorship in FranceFrance has a long history of governmental censorship, particularly in the 16th to 18th centuries, but today freedom of press is guaranteed by the French Constitution and instances of governmental censorship are relatively limited and isolated....
- Philippe ErulinPhilippe ErulinPhilippe Louis Edmé Marie François Erulin was a French Army officer. He gained notoriety in Algeria for taking part in the torture of Henri Alleg, and in Africa for leading the Battle of Kolwezi.- Biography :...
- Roger Faulques
- André Charbonnier
Source editions
- La Question, Éditions de Minuit, Paris, 1958. ISBN 2-7073-0175-2
- La Question, Éditions La Cité, Lausanne, 1958
- La Question, Éditions Rahma, Algiers, 1992