In July 1962, German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer (1876-1967) and French President Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970) celebrated Franco-German reconciliation in the ultra-symbolic place of Reims Cathedral. A few days earlier, Algeria had declared itself independent from France after 132 years of colonial rule. A small crowd of German “suitcase carriers”, who supported the National Liberation Front (FLN), had also contributed.
Its leadership had taken refuge in the embassies of the already independent Maghreb countries, Morocco and Tunisia, and Chancellor Adenauer was well aware of the clandestine cooperation between the Algerians and the Germans – students, trade unionists, intellectuals, Christians, politicians.
One of the grounds of the War of Independence
Tacitly, the Foreign Office in Bonn appreciated this germ of cooperation with postcolonial Africa. And miracle: it didn’t bother Franco-German reconciliation at all. Germany, which had to regain its place in the community of peoples after 1945, therefore had its (small) share in Algerian independence.
The three countries have even more in common. But today, Algeria plays practically no role in German foreign policy, economic relations remain far below potential, no correspondent of a major German media resides in Algiers, cultural and scientific exchanges are minimal, only a few tourists stray into the country.
The privileged partner is called Morocco. Tunisia also plays a bigger role than Africa’s largest country, where almost half the population is under 30 and where a remarkable democratic movement has challenged autocratic rule since 2019 and also deserves more “bearers of suitcases” from Europe. It is time to create a Franco-Algerian-German triangle.
The Germans are not only linked to Algeria by the struggle for decolonization. May 8, 1945 would already be the occasion for a common policy of memory.
In France, this date is celebrated as Liberation Day. But that day, the peaceful demand for autonomy and independence of the Algerian auxiliary troops was brutally repressed in Sétif by the security forces. A tragedy which was one of the grounds of the war of independence against French colonization which broke out in 1954, lasted eight years and whose cruel dimensions have not really been dealt with until today.
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