Lethal provocation : 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. This book explores the history of an anti-Jewish riot in 1934 in t Constantine, French Algeria, in which 25 Jews and 3 Muslims died. Understood at the time as the result of long-standing tensions between Muslims and Jews in North Africa, the riot was closely related to contemporary debates about reforming the colonial regime in Algeria. These debates divided the population and their political representatives, leaving Constantine vulnerable to acts of provocation by French nationalist extremists who appear to have been responsible for the majority of the murders. Although the police and some local officials were aware of these acts of provocation, the story was successfully covered up in the subsequent trials and in the official reports. The book sets these events in a broad chronological context, considering the ways that the history of colonialism in Algeria recast the relationship between Muslims, Jews, and Europeans in North Africa. Lethal Provocation 1 Contents 6 Acknowledgments 8 Note on Transliteration 10 Map 1. Northern Algeria during the colonial period 11 Map 2. The city of Constantine in 1934 12 Introduction 14 Part 1: Algerian Histories of Empire 24 1. Constantine in North African History 26 2. “Native,” “Jewish,” and “European” 34 3. The Crucible of Local Politics 47 Part 2: Colonial Society in Motion 60 4. The Postwar Moment 62 5. French Algeria’s Dual Fracture 76 6 Provocation, Difference, and Public Space 96 7. Rehearsals for Crisis 108 Part 3: A Riot in France 132 8. Friday and Saturday, August 3–4, 1934 134 9. Sunday, August 5, 1934 147 10. Shock and Containment 167 Part 4: Making the Riot Algerian 186 11. Empire of Fright 188 12. The Police Investigation 206 13. The Agitator 221 14. The Trials 248 Conclusion 262 Appendix 274 Notes 278 Index 328 This text explores the history of an anti-Jewish riot in 1934 in Constantine, French Algeria, in which 25 Jews & 3 Muslims died. Understood at the time as the result of long-standing tensions between Muslims & Jews in North Africa, the riot was closely related to contemporary debates about reforming the colonial regime in Algeria. These debates divided the population & and their political representatives, leaving Constantine vulnerable to acts of provocation by French nationalist extremists who appear to have been responsible for the majority of the murders. Although the police & some local officials were aware of these acts of provocation, the story was successfully covered up in the subsequent trials & in the official reports. This text sets these events in a broad chronological context "Explores the most lethal episode of anti-Jewish violence to happen on French territory in peacetime in the twentieth century, a riot in Constantine, Algeria in 1934 in which 28 people died"-- Provided by publisher