In the following days dozens of dead bodies are spotted floating down the Seine. He begins with the build-up to the massacre, as Algerians in Paris prepare to protest against a curfew imposed on them earlier that month. The night of a terrible police massacre of Algerians in Paris.ĭidier Daeninckx’s detective novel “Meurtres pour mémoire” (1984) deals with the events of that night – check out the English translation, “Murder in Memoriam”, published by Serpent’s Tail.
So why is 17 October 1961 an unforgettable date in French and Algerian history? It’s the day “when the stars fell from the sky”. And there’s one particular date that keeps cropping up in all this – this very day in 1961. While a ceasefire came in March 1962, at an official level Algeria continued to be a taboo subject. The early 1960s were turbulent times: de Gaulle’s government was in talks with the FLN, the OAS was involved in bombings to destabilise everything. Many English crime novelists have also latched onto the Algerian connection, from “The Day of the Jackal” to Adrian Megson’s “Death on the Pont Noir” – both dealing with the OAS, assassination attempts and events in France up to 1963. In Ireland it’s also the War of Independence (1919-21), the subsequent civil war, the upsurge in conflict from 1969 to the ceasefires of the 1990s and beyond.Īnd in France, besides the two World Wars it’s Algeria.Īmong the many cinema examples with echoes of the Algerian War are Michael Haneke’s 2005 film “Caché” (“Hidden”), “Les Parapluies de Cherbourg” (OK, not quite crime fiction but a fantabulously sad Sixties musical) and my favourite Claude Chabrol film, “Le Boucher” (which also touches on Indochina). For many countries it’s the first and second World Wars. Real wartime events often loom large in crime fiction.
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