European University Institute Library

Lethal provocation, the Constantine murders and the politics of French Algeria, Joshua Cole

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

mapsillustrations

index present

non fiction

Lethal provocation

bibliography

1065548279

Joshua Cole

the Constantine murders and the politics of French Algeria

Part murder mystery, part social history of political violence, Lethal Provocation is a forensic examination of the deadliest peacetime episode of anti-Jewish violence in modern French history. Joshua Cole reconstructs the 1934 riots in Constantine, Algeria, in which tensions between Muslims and Jews were aggravated by right-wing extremists, resulting in the deaths of twenty-eight people. Animating the unrest was Mohamed El Maadi, a soldier in the French army. Later a member of a notorious French nationalist group that threatened insurrection in the late 1930s, El Maadi became an enthusiastic supporter of France's Vichy regime in World War II, and finished his career in the German SS. Cole cracks the "cold case" of El Maadi's participation in the events, revealing both his presence at the scene and his motives in provoking violence at a moment when the French government was debating the rights of Muslims in Algeria. Local police and authorities came to know about the role of provocation in the unrest and killings and purposely hid the truth during the investigation that followed. Cole's sensitive history brings into high relief the cruelty of social relations in the decades before the war for Algerian independence.--, Provided by publisher

Constantine in North African history -- Native, Jewish, and European -- The crucible of local politics -- The postwar moment -- French Algeria's dual fracture -- Provocation, difference, and public space -- Rehearsals for crisis -- Friday and Saturday, August 3-4, 1934 -- Sunday, August 5, 1934 -- Shock and containment -- Empire of fright -- The police investigation -- The agitator -- The trials