Harki
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Harki (from the Arabic Harka: "troop" or "band of warriors") was the generic Algerian 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 remained pro-French during that war. Since Algerian independence "Harki" has been used as a derogatory expression within Algeria equating to "collaborator".
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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 war against Germany in 1870 and the First World War (1914–1918).
During World War II they numbered more than 200,000 and contributed largely to the Liberation of France from the Nazis and the war in Italy and Germany.
Tirailleurs fought in Indochina with the French forces until the fall of Dien Bien Phu (1954).
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 to prevent desertions or 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 the 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, Harki or Pied-Noir (European settler) would suffer reprisals after independence for any action during the civil war.
After the war
In 1962, orders were initially given by the French government of Charles De Gaulle to its officials and army officers to prevent the Harkis from seeking refuge in Metropolitan France, as the pieds-noirs did. However, some officers of the French army disobeyed and tried to assist the Harkis under their command, as well as their families, to leave for Metropolitan France. Around 91,000 Harkis were able to find refuge in France. As feared, there were wide spread reprisals against those who remained in Algeria. French historians estimate 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".
The French government of the time, concerned mainly with disengagement from Algeria and the repatriation of the pied noirs, disregarded or downplayed news of these killings. De Gaulle himself appears to have been indifferent to the plight of the Muslim loyalists, remarking to one of their spokesmen "Eh bien! vous suffrirez" ("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.
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 controversed February 23, 2005 law on the "merits of colonization")fr:Harki