Maurice Audin (February 14, 1932 – June 21, 1957) was a French mathematics assistant at the
University of AlgiersThe University of Algiers Benyoucef Benkhedda is a university located in Algiers, Algeria. It was founded in 1909 and is organized into seven faculties.-History:...
, a member of the
Algerian Communist PartyThe Algerian Communist Party was a communist party in Algeria. The PCA emerged in 1920 as an extension the French Communist Party and eventually became a separate entity in 1936 ....
and an activist in the anticolonialist cause, who was one of the "disappeared" during the Battle of Algiers.
In the centre of
AlgiersAlgiers is the capital and largest city of Algeria, and the second largest city in the Maghreb . 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...
, beside the university, the intersection of streets bearing the names of several other heroes of the Algerian Revolution is called the Place Maurice-Audin.
During the Battle of Algiers, Maurice Audin was arrested at his home on 11 June 1957, by Captain Devis, Lieutenant Philippe Erulin and several soldiers of the First Parachute Regiment of the
French ArmyThe French Army, officially the Armée de Terre , is the land-based component of the French Armed Forces and its largest. As of 2008, the army employs 133,947 regular soldiers and 24 000+ civilians...
.
Maurice Audin (February 14, 1932 – June 21, 1957) was a French mathematics assistant at the
University of AlgiersThe University of Algiers Benyoucef Benkhedda is a university located in Algiers, Algeria. It was founded in 1909 and is organized into seven faculties.-History:...
, a member of the
Algerian Communist PartyThe Algerian Communist Party was a communist party in Algeria. The PCA emerged in 1920 as an extension the French Communist Party and eventually became a separate entity in 1936 ....
and an activist in the anticolonialist cause, who was one of the "disappeared" during the Battle of Algiers.
In the centre of
AlgiersAlgiers is the capital and largest city of Algeria, and the second largest city in the Maghreb . 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...
, beside the university, the intersection of streets bearing the names of several other heroes of the Algerian Revolution is called the Place Maurice-Audin.
The Audin affair
During the Battle of Algiers, Maurice Audin was arrested at his home on 11 June 1957, by Captain Devis, Lieutenant Philippe Erulin and several soldiers of the First Parachute Regiment of the
French ArmyThe French Army, officially the Armée de Terre , is the land-based component of the French Armed Forces and its largest. As of 2008, the army employs 133,947 regular soldiers and 24 000+ civilians...
. He was taken to the Villa Susini in the fashionable neighborhood of
El BiarEl Biar is a suburb of Algiers, Algeria. It is located in the administrative constituency of Bouzaréah in the Governorate of Greater Algiers. As of the 1998 census, it has a population of 52,582 inhabitants...
for interrogation.
A trap was installed in the apartment of the Audin family and
Henri AllegHenri Alleg , born Henri Salem, is a French-Algerian journalist, director of the "Alger républicain" newspaper, and a member of the French Communist Party...
, the former editor of the
Alger républicainAlger républicain is an Algerian newspaper founded in 1938, and intermittently published ever since. It is close to the Algerian communist movement, without having been an official party publication. The paper was edited by the French-Algerian communist and anti-colonial activist Henri Alleg from...
, was arrested there the next day.
Doctor Georges Hadjadj later admitted that, under torture, he had given Audin's name to men working for
Paul AussaressesPaul Aussaresses is a retired French Army general, who fought during World War II, the First Indochina War and Algerian War...
, following threats that his wife would be raped.
Audin was last seen alive by
Henri AllegHenri Alleg , born Henri Salem, is a French-Algerian journalist, director of the "Alger républicain" newspaper, and a member of the French Communist Party...
, one day after his arrest. Alleg had just been arrested, and the paratroopers attempted to intimidate him by showing Audin, who had been tortured and was "agash and confused". Pressed to tell Alleg how torture would feel, he said "it is tough, Henri" (
c'est dur, Henri). Alleg described the events in
La QuestionLa 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...
; he also mentioned later hearing a prisoner dragged away and gun shots, that he assumed were Audin's summary execution..
Audin's wife and their three children never received any further information about him. According to
Pierre Vidal-NaquetPierre Emmanuel Vidal-Naquet was a French historian who began teaching at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales in 1969....
, who wrote in May 1958, in the first edition of
L'affaire Audin, that escape was impossible, Maurice Audin died under torture on 21 June 1957, at the hands of Lieutenant André Charbonnier (a graduate of
Saint-CyrThe École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr is the foremost French military academy. It is often referred to as Saint-Cyr. Its motto is "Ils s'instruisent pour vaincre": literally "They study to vanquish." or "Training for victory". French cadet officers are named "saint-cyriens", or "cyrards"...
who was nicknamed "the doctor" because he liked to use a scalpel on his victims), under the orders of the General
Jacques MassuJacques Émile Massu was a French general who fought in World War II, First Indochina War, Algerian War and the Suez crisis.-Early life:...
. According to the French Army, Maurice Audin tried to escape by jumping from a jeep during a transfer. However, in November 1960, Charbonnier told Vidal-Naquet that he had strangled Audin and buried the body in Fort l’Empereur in El Biar.
By July 1957, some newspapers started to discuss "the Audin business" and, on 2 December 1957, the defence
in absentia of his doctoral thesis,
On linear equations in a vector space, chaired by
Laurent SchwartzLaurent-Moïse Schwartz was a French mathematician. Alumnus of the École normale supérieure, he was awarded the Fields medal in 1950 for his works on the theory of distributions, which gives a well-defined meaning to objects such as the Dirac delta function...
, aroused indignation among certain academics against the situation in Algeria.
"Audin committees" were created to publicise the issue and arouse public opinion against the practice of torture in Algeria.
A judicial enquiry was initiated following a complaint from his wife. At the request of the lawyers for Madame Josette Audin, the case was transferred in
RennesThe Parlement de Bretagne| map =|region = Bretagne|department = Ille-et-Vilaine|arrondissement = Rennes|canton = Chief town of 11 cantons|INSEE = 35238...
in April 1959; it lasted until April 1962 when it was closed for lack of evidence. Moreover, on 22 March 1962, an amnesty had been decreed for "activities within the framework of the operations for the enforcement of law and order directed against the Algerian insurrection".
When the case was closed, Madame Audin's lawyers appealed to the supreme court of appeal. Their appeal was rejected in 1966. The body of Maurice Audin not having been found, a death certificate was issued by a court in Algiers on 1 June 1963, a judgement which was recognized in France on 27 May 1966.
In 2001, Madame Audin issued a new complaint, calling her husband's death a crime against humanity.
In June 2007, fifty years after her husband's disappearance, Madame Audin wrote to
Nicolas SarkozyNicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra...
, the newly-elected French president, asking him that the mystery of her husband's disappearance be cleared up and that France assume its responsibility in the affair.
In January 2009, Michèle Audin, the daughter of Maurice Audin, herself a mathematician, publicly declined the French
Legion d'HonneurThe Légion d'honneur or Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
, which had been awarded for her work. As a motivation for her refusal, she cited the lack of response from the French government to her mother's letter.