Lethal Provocation

Joshua Cole

Description

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.

Sujets

• Histoire
• Jewish studies
• History of Africa
• History of Europe
• Algeria
• Algérie
• France

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 15 septembre 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781501739439
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 9 Mo

Extrait

LETHAL PROVOCATION

LETHAL PROVOCATION

T HE CONSTANT I NE MURDE RS AND T HE POL I T I CS OF F RE NCH ALGE RI A

J o s h u a Co l e

CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS Ithaca and London

Copyright © 2019 by Cornell University

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. Visit our website at cornellpress.cornell.edu.

First published 2019 by Cornell University Press

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data Names: Cole, Joshua, 1961– author. Title: Lethal provocation : the Constantine murders and the politics of French Algeria / Joshua Cole. Description: Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2019. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2018053417 (print) | LCCN 2018053804 (ebook) | ISBN 9781501739439 (pdf ) | ISBN 9781501739446 (epub/mobi) | ISBN 9781501739415 (cloth) Subjects: LCSH: Jews—Algeria—Constantine—History. | Riots—Algeria—Constantine—History—20th century. | Ethnic conflict—Algeria—Constantine—History—20th century. | Constantine (Algeria)—Ethnic relations. | Constantine (Algeria) —History—20th century. | France—Politics and government—1914–1940. Classification: LCC DS135.A3 (ebook) | LCC DS135.A3 C64 2019 (print) | DDC 305.892/40655—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018053417

Cover illustration: The antiJewish riots and massacres in Constantine, Algeria, August 35, 1934. © The Oster Visual Documentation Center, The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot.

Co nte nts

Acknowledgments vii Note on Transliteration ix Map 1. Northern Algeria during the colonial period x Map 2. The city of Constantine in 1934 xi

Introduction

1

Pa r t 1 : A lg e r i a n H i s to r i e s o f E m p i r e  1. Constantine in North African History 13  2. “Native,” “Jewish,” and “European” 21  3. The Crucible of Local Politics 34 Pa r t 2 : Co lo n i a l S o c i e t y i n M ot i o n  4. The Postwar Moment 49  5. French Algeria’s Dual Fracture 63  6 Provocation, Difference, and Public Space 83  7. Rehearsals for Crisis 95 Pa r t 3 : A R i ot i n F r a n c e  8. Friday and Saturday, August 3–4, 1934 115  9. Sunday, August 5, 1934 128 10. Shock and Containment 148 Pa r t 4 : M a k i n g t h e R i ot A lg e r i a n 11. Empire of Fright 169 12. The Police Investigation 187

vi CONTENTS

13. The Agitator 14. The Trials Conclusion

Appendix Notes Index A gallery of figures appears between parts 2 and 3.

202 229 243

255 259 309

A c k n o w l e d g m e nt s

This book could not have been written without help. I thank my colleagues in the history department at the University of Michigan, especially Kathleen Canning, Juan Cole, Geoff Eley, Dena Good man, Jean Hébrard, Mary Kelley, Deborah Dash Moore, Sonya Rose, and Jeffrey Veidlinger. In addition to the history department, three other units at the university provided financial assistance and time away from teaching: the Institute for the Humanities, the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies, and the Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies. UM’s Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program provided me with two excellent research assistants, Lalita Clozel and Nisreen Khokhar, and the Office of Research offered me a subvention to cover publication costs. In France, I was generously hosted by the École des hautes études en sciences sociales in Paris. In Algeria, I was warmly received by the University of Algiers, Bouzareah, and the Centre d’études maghrébines in Oran. At the Archives nationales d’outremer in AixenProvence, André Brochier guided me through the documentation on the Department of Constantine. Shrewd suggestions from Emily Andrew at Cornell University Press made an overlong manuscript shorter—and better. Writers want a room of their own, but before they get there they need to engage with others. The book was shaped by conversations with Aida Bamia, Laure Blévis, Thierry Bonzon, Raphaëlle Branche, François Brunet, Caroline Campbell, Omar Carlier, J. P. Daughton, JeanLuc Einaudi, Julien Fromage, Jonathan Glasser, Jane Goodman, Emily Gottreich, Nancy Green, Jim House, Eric Jennings, Samuel Kalman, Charles Keith, Lisa Leff, Patricia Lorcin, Neil MacMaster, James McDougall, Maud Mandel, Claire Marynower, John Mer riman, M’hamed Oualdi, Robert Parks, Kevin Passmore, JeanLouis Planche, Miranda Pollard, Eve Troutt Powell, Mary Louise Roberts, Sophie Roberts, Claudio Saunt, Bryant Simon, Miranda Spieler, Sarah Abrevaya Stein, Judith Surkis, Sylvie Thénault, and Martin Thomas. I am especially indebted to colleagues who read the work in manuscript. Ethan Katz fielded more than one anxious phone call, offered wise advice, and generously shared his own research. Joan Scott and Daniel Sherman read

vii

viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

a very early draft and saw what was of value. Benjamin Brower and Julia ClancySmith gave me the benefit of their deep knowledge of North Africa. Malika Rahal hosted me in Rouen and was a patient sounding board for my arguments. Todd Shepard, as always, was a valued reader. James McDougall stepped up at a moment when I had no right to make demands. Jennifer Ses sions provided me with photos of an archival dossier that I missed in Paris. Daniel Williford took time off from his dissertation research to photograph Mohamed El Maadi’s service record and doublechecked the transliteration of Arabic words and names. Ken Garner helped to prepare the manuscript for publication with meticulous care. All these friends and colleagues read drafts of chapters and offered comments. Responsibility for the arguments and any errors contained in this book are mine alone. Portions of chapter 4 were published previously in “Constantine before the Riots of August 1934: Civil Status, AntiSemitism, and the Politics of AssimilationinInterwarFrenchAlgeria,”North African StudiesJournal of 17, no. 5 (December 2012): 839–61. Portions of chapter 10 appeared in “Anti Semitism and the Colonial Situation in Interwar Algeria: The AntiJewish Riots in Constantine, August 1934,” inThe French Colonial Mind, ed. Martin Thomas (Omaha: University of Nebraska Press, 2011), 2:77–111. Every book also has a local history, and this one was familial. Lucas and Ruby met the demands that this project made on their lives with a freely expressed mix of cheerfulness and pointed critique. My parents, Susan and Brock, moved into our house as I finished the manuscript, and this cohabita tion brought sustenance of an unexpected kind. My partner, Kate Tremel, takes what is heavy and makes it light.

N ot e o n Tr a n s l i t e r at i o n

All translations from French or Arabic into English are my own. Following a custom that has developed in English language historiography, I have transliterated Maghribi Arabic words accord ing to a simplified system based on the recommendations of theInternational Journal of Middle East Studies, without full diacritics or vowel markings. I use an apostrophe (’) to indicate hamza only when it is in the middle of a word, and an opening single quotation mark (‘) for ‘ayn when it is at the beginning or middle of the word. To avoid confusion in referring to documents from the colonial period and more recent historical work, I have used the Galli cized form of Arabic proper names that are commonly encountered in the literature. Place names are given in the form used during the colonial period in Algeria, followed by the current postindependence name of the locale in parentheses at first mention.

ix