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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hi, I'm Eves and Welcome to This Day

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Speaker 1: in History Class, a show that uncovers a little bit

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Speaker 1: more about history every day. Today is May eighth, nineteen.

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Speaker 1: The day was May eighth, nineteen. France was celebrating v

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Speaker 1: E Day or Victory in Europe Day, the day that

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Speaker 1: the World War two allies formally accepted Nazi Germany's surrender.

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Speaker 1: At the time, Algeria was a part of France and

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Speaker 1: was known as French Algeria. During the war, many Algerians

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Speaker 1: served with the French army, but unrest had been brewing

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Speaker 1: in Algeria for months. The French responded to anti French

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Speaker 1: and anti colonial sentiment with political, economic, and cultural pressures.

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Speaker 1: This inten culminated on May eighth, nineteen forty five with

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Speaker 1: an independence march in Satife that turned into a massacre

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Speaker 1: of Algerian people by the French army. At the time,

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Speaker 1: the massacre was described as troubles in North Constantine, but

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Speaker 1: thousands of Algerian people were killed during the weeks long

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Speaker 1: period that the violence persisted. Before World War Two, nationalists

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Speaker 1: had begun organizing around mess Ei Hajj and fair. Hot

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Speaker 1: A bos Hajj was an Algerian nationalist who founded the

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Speaker 1: Algerian People's Party or p p A, a nationalist organization

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Speaker 1: and a boss created a manifesto that called for Muslims

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Speaker 1: equal rights in Algeria, as well as an Algerian constitution

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Speaker 1: and autonomous state federated with France. A Boss organized the

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Speaker 1: Friends of the Manifesto and of Liberty or a m

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Speaker 1: L in the nineteen forties to publicize the manifesto. Dissatisfaction

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Speaker 1: with the colonial regime, now ftionalism and a desire for

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Speaker 1: independence grew in Algeria. At the beginning of the Second

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Speaker 1: World War. The Germans occupied Algeria for a short time,

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Speaker 1: but Algerians fought in the war on the French side,

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Speaker 1: anticipating independence when the war was over. But as the

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Speaker 1: French Fourth Republic was gearing up, members of the band

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Speaker 1: p p A and the closely monitored a m L

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Speaker 1: planned anti colonial demonstrations. In the weeks leading up to

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Speaker 1: the massacre, protests with thousands of people had taken place

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Speaker 1: in cities around Algeria like Mustagnum. On May eighth, nineteen

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Speaker 1: forty five, somewhere around four thousand or five thousand protesters

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Speaker 1: marched and Satife, a town in northern Algeria, to demand

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Speaker 1: independence from the French administration. But around nine fifteen in

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Speaker 1: the morning, the demonstration and Satife turned into a riot

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Speaker 1: when the police tried to seize the Algerian flags, which

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Speaker 1: were banned at the time, and nationalist signs that the

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Speaker 1: protesters were holding. It's not clear who fired the first shot,

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Speaker 1: but demonstrators and police were killed. Algerian Muslims killed, French civilians.

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Speaker 1: French commander General Duval ordered troops to fire on the crowds,

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Speaker 1: which were mostly unarmed solid boosted. A boy who carried

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Speaker 1: the Algerian flag was among the first people to be

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Speaker 1: shot and killed, and he became a martyr in the movement.

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Speaker 1: Violence spread to surrounding areas. That afternoon. In Guelma, a

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Speaker 1: nearby town, people from the p p A carried out

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Speaker 1: a peaceful demonstration waiving the Algerian flag. One demonstrator was

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Speaker 1: killed and no French people died that day, but violence escalated.

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Speaker 1: Twelve pie Noirs are Europeans who lived in Algeria during

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Speaker 1: French rule, were killed over the next couple of days.

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Speaker 1: In Guelma, European civilians and authorities killed up to two

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Speaker 1: thousand Algerians in the area around Gelma. In the weeks

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Speaker 1: after May eighth, the air force dropped bombs over a

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Speaker 1: tief Gilma and nearby villages. Martial law was declared in Satif.

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Speaker 1: Algerian Muslims were forbidden to leave their houses without an

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Speaker 1: arm band indicating that they were going to work, and

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Speaker 1: those without armed bands were killed. The Foreign Legion and

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Speaker 1: Synecalese soldiers pillaged, burned down houses and raped people. The

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Speaker 1: French army carried out summary executions of Algerian Muslims in

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Speaker 1: rural areas and lynched people suspected of participating in the riots.

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Speaker 1: The massacres continued throughout May and until late June. The

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Speaker 1: exact number of people killed in the massacre is unknown.

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Speaker 1: The number the French gave shortly after the massacre was

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Speaker 1: one thousand and twenty Algerian deaths, while Radio Cairo claimed

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Speaker 1: forty five thousand people were killed. Others have estimated that

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Speaker 1: the real death toll is anywhere between six thousand and

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Speaker 1: twenty thousand people. One hundred and two French cologns or

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Speaker 1: colonists were killed in attacks following the riots. But the

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Speaker 1: official death toll of Algerians remains contentious. Nine years after

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Speaker 1: the massacre, on November one, nineteen fifty four, the Algerian

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Speaker 1: War of Independence began when the Algerian National Liberation Front

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Speaker 1: launched armed revolts throughout the country and called for a

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Speaker 1: sovereign Algerian state. By nineteen sixty two, Algeria had achieved

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Speaker 1: independence from France. May eighth is now an official day

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Speaker 1: of morning in Algeria. In February of two thousand five, Francis,

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Speaker 1: ambassador to Algeria, formally apologized for the massacre, saying that

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Speaker 1: it was a quote inexcusable tragedy. I'm Eves Defco and

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Speaker 1: hopefully you know a little more about history today than

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Speaker 1: you did yesterday. If you feel like correcting my pronunciation

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Speaker 1: or my accent on anything that I've said in the show,

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Speaker 1: feel free to leave a very kind comment on Twitter,

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Speaker 1: Instagram or Facebook. At t d I h C podcast,

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Speaker 1: Thanks for joining me on this trip through time. See

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Speaker 1: you here in the exact same spot tomorrow. For more

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