Henri Alleg

Harry Salem known as Henri Alleg born July 20 1921 in London and died July 17 2013 in the 19th arrondissement of Paris was a French journalist member of the French Communist Party PCF and former director of Alger Républicain He is notably the author of La Question a book denouncing torture during the Algerian War Born in London to RussoPolish Jewish parents Henri Alleg never fully embraced his Jewish identity due to his views on Israel as an agent of racist colonialism Alleg spent part of his childhood in Paris where during the Spanish Civil War he encountered an increasingly politicized school environment with Italian refugees who opposed Mussolinis arrival in France along with German Jews Alleg left for Algeria in 1939 and at the age of 18 became closely associated with the Algerian Communist Party In 1946 he married Gilberte Serfaty who like him would become an ardent communist activist In 1951 he became editor of the daily newspaper Alger Républicain He went underground in 1955 when the newspaper Alger Républicain was banned Boualem Khalfa the first Muslim to head a major daily newspaper had left the previous year to join the Algerian Communist Party press Henri Alleg however continued to send articles to France some of which were published by LHumanité He was arrested on June 12 1957 by paratroopers of the 10th DP5 at the home of his friend Maurice Audin a young mathematics assistant and fellow Algerian Communist Party activist who had been arrested the day before and tortured to death He was held captive for a month in ElBiar where he was tortured in several sessions He reportedly stood his ground against his torturers primarily Lieutenants André Charbonnier and Philippe Erulin under the command of Captain Marcel Devis declaring Im waiting for you Im not afraid of you He was then transferred to the Lodi camp Médéa Province then to Barberousse the harsh civilian prison in Algiers Transferred to France he was imprisoned in Rennes prison Taking advantage of a stay in a hospital he escaped With the help of communist activists he reached Czechoslovakia thanks in particular to Alfred Locussol He returned to France after the Evian Accords then to Algeria where he participated in the revival of the newspaper Alger Républicain Persona non grata in Algeria following Houari Boumédiènes coup détat he returned to France in 1965 He resumed his writing between 1966 and 1980 for the daily newspaper LHumanité where he became secretarygeneral He settled in Palaiseau where he remained until the end of his life In 2005 he cosigned a letter to the President of the Republic asking the French government to recognize the abandonment of the Harkis in 1962 Henri Alleg died on July 17 2013 During his funeral at Père Lachaise Cemetery on July 29 2013 in the presence of representatives of the French and Algerian governments the Algerian President recalled in a message read on his behalf that the book The Question is one of the major texts which through their universal impact and the awareness they have raised throughout the world have undeniably contributed to serving the noble cause of human rights in general Henri Alleg is buried in the Palaiseau Cemetery