French Journalist Resigns After Comparing French Actions in Algeria to Nazi Massacre

French Journalist Resigns After Comparing French Actions in Algeria to Nazi Massacre

Jean-Michel Aphatie, a prominent French journalist, has announced his resignation from his role as an expert analyst for broadcaster RTL. This decision comes after he sparked controversy by comparing French actions during colonial rule in Algeria to the Nazi massacre in Oradour-sur-Glane during World War II.

Aphatie, a veteran reporter and broadcaster, insisted that he stands by his comments made on RTL in February. He had equated the atrocities committed by France in Algeria with those of Nazi Germany in occupied France.

"I will not return to RTL. It is my decision," Aphatie wrote on a social media platform after the radio station suspended him from air for a week.

"Every year in France, we commemorate what happened in Oradour-sur-Glane – the massacre of an entire village. But we have committed hundreds of these, in Algeria. Are we aware of this?"

He was referring to the village where an SS unit returning to the front in Normandy massacred 642 residents on June 10, 1944. The village was never rebuilt, serving as a chilling memorial for future generations.

"The Nazis behaved like us."

Aphatie acknowledged that his comments had created a "debate" but maintained their importance in understanding the full story of France's presence in Algeria from 1830 to 1962. He expressed his horror at what he had read about the period in history books.

His suspension by RTL meant that "if I come back to RTL I validate this and admit to making a mistake." He declared, "This is a line that cannot be crossed."

Aphatie's comments prompted a flurry of complaints to the audio-visual regulator Arcom, which has opened an investigation.

France's conduct in Algeria during the 1954-62 war that led to independence and previous decades remains a subject of painful debate in both countries. Historians from both sides have documented numerous violations, including arbitrary killings and detention carried out by French forces. This history continues to burden French-Algerian relations to this day.

The far right in France has long defended French policies in those years. Jean-Marie Le Pen, a veteran of the Algerian War and co-founder of the National Front (FN) party, who died earlier this year, drew much support from French settlers who had to return after independence.