Harki
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Harki (from the Arabic Haraka: "movement") was the generic term for Muslim Algerians serving as auxiliaries with the French Army, during the Algerian War of Independence from 1954 to 1962. The phrase is sometimes extended to cover all Algerian Muslims who supported the French presence in Algeria during this war.
Since Algerian independence "Harki" has been used as a derogatory expression within Algeria, or amongst some of the Franco-Algerian community, equating to "collaborator". In France, the term is used to designate the Harkis repatriés ("repatriated Harkis") community living in the country since 1962, and its metropolitan born descendants.
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[edit] Before the Algerian war of independence
Algerian Muslim regular soldiers had served in large numbers with the French "Armée d'Afrique" (Army of Africa) from 1830 as spahis (cavalry) and tirailleurs (lit. skirmisher, i.e. infantry). They played an important part during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and the First World War (1914–1918).
During World War II North African troops serving with the French Army numbered more than 200,000. They made a major contribution during the liberation of France and the campaigns in Italy and Germany of 1944-45.
Tirailleurs from Algeria, Morocco and West Africa fought in Indochina as part of the French Expeditionary Force until the fall of Dien Bien Phu (1954).
[edit] During the Algerian war of independence
With the outbreak of the Algerian War that same year, the loyalty of the Muslim soldiers to France inevitably came under heavy strain and some of the regular units were transferred from Algeria to France or Germany, following increased incidences of desertion or small-scale mutiny. As a partial replacement the French administration recruited the Harkis as irregular militia based in their home villages or towns throughout Algeria. Initially raised as self-defence units the Harkis, from 1956 on, increasingly served alongside the French Army in the field. They were lightly armed (often only with shotguns) but their knowledge of local terrain and conditions made them valuable auxiliaries to French regular units.
According to French sources there were by 1962 236,000 Algerian Muslims fighting for the French army in both regular and Harki units; some estimates suggest that, with their families, they may have numbered as much as 1 million, but 400,000 is more commonly cited. It was a recurring claim by the French that more Muslims were fighting with their forces than with those of the FLN nationalists.
The motives of the Harkis were mixed. The FLN targeted both collaborators and rival nationalist groups and some Muslim Algerians enrolled in the Harkis to avenge the deaths of relatives. Others were defectors from the FLN rebel forces who had been persuaded to change sides. A major source was from families or other groups who had traditionally given service to France. From the viewpoint of Algerian nationalists all were traitors. However at independence guarantees were given by both signatories of the cease fire ("Accords d'Evian" signed by France and the Algerian FLN), that no one, Harkis or Pieds-Noirs (Algerian-born French) would suffer reprisals after independence for any action during the civil war.
[edit] After the war
In 1962, orders were initially given by the French government of Charles De Gaulle to officials and army officers to prevent the Harkis from following the example of the Pieds-Noirs and seeking refuge in Metropolitan France. However, some officers of the French army disobeyed and tried to assist the Harkis under their command, as well as their families, to escape from Algeria. About 91,000 Harkis were able to find refuge in France. As feared, there were wide spread reprisals against those who remained in Algeria. It is estimated that somewhere between 50,000 and 150,000 Harkis and their dependents were killed by the FLN or by lynch mobs in Algeria, sometimes in circumstances of extreme cruelty. In his history of the Algerian War "A Savage War Of Peace" Alistair Horne writes:"Hundreds died when put to work clearing the minefields along the Morice Line, or were shot out of hand. Others were tortured atrociously; army veterans were made to dig their own tombs, then swallow their decorations before being killed; they were burned alive, or castrated, or dragged behind trucks, or cut to pieces and their flesh fed to dogs. Many were put to death with their entire families, including young children."
By contrast the regular Muslim troops (who had the option of continuing to serve in the French Army) were only occasionally subject to reprisals. Some leaders of the new Algerian Republic were themselves veterans of the French Army, which had prior to independence provided one of the few avenues for advancement open to the Muslim majority.
The French government of the time, concerned mainly with disengagement from Algeria and the repatriation of the Pieds-Noirs, disregarded or downplayed news of these killings. De Gaulle himself appears to have been indifferent to the plight of the Muslim loyalists, according to Alistair Horne remarking to one of their spokesmen "Eh bien! vous souffrirez" ("Well then - you will suffer"). Nothing had been planned for the Harkis, and the government refused to formally recognize their right to stay in France for some years. They were kept out of sight in "temporary" internment camps surrounded by barbed-wire. Concern at this treatment of the Harkis, who had suffered terribly for their loyalty to France, finally led to the French government freeing them from the camps in the 1970s and 1980s.
Recently, the French government of Jacques Chirac has acknowledged these former allies and public ceremonies have been held to commemorate their sacrifices. There are several active Harki associations in France working to obtain further recognition for what is still a neglected and unassimilated refugee minority. For its part the Algerian government still does not recognize the Harkis as French citizens and has not permitted them to visit their birth places and members of their families left behind in Algeria.
[edit] Zidane incident
The term harki continues to be a loaded one in the French-Algerian community; Zinedine Zidane, the captain of the French national football team, was famously described as acceptable by the far right National Front because, allegedly, his father was a Harki. This led to death threats from extremists of all stripes, and the disruption of a friendly encounter between the French and Algerian football teams in October 2001. In all his career, Zidane has religiously avoided being drawn into the racial politics that has plagued France in general in recent years and tried to draw in Zidane in particular, for his Algerian roots. The only time he made a public statement was when he said, 'I say this once for all time, my father is not a Harki.' Zidane's rare public outburst was in response to posters that said 'Zidane Harki' in the run up to the France-Algeria football match in 2001.
[edit] Bibliography
- A Savage War of Peace: Alistair Horne 1978 ISBN 0-670-61964-7
- The Algerian Insurrection 1954-62: Edgar O'Ballance 1967
- The Algerian War 1954-62: Martin Windrow ISBN 1-85532-658-2
[edit] See also
- Harka is a Spanish movie written by Francisco Franco (under a pseudonym) inspired in his experiences along indigenous troops in Spanish Morocco.
- Historical revisionism (discussion on the highly controversial February 23, 2005 law on the "merits of colonization")
