The Test Of Torture
Stern, Laurent
THE QUESTION, by Henri Alleg. Introduction by Jean-Paul Sartre. Translated from the French by John Calder. New York, George Braziller, Inc. 123 pp. $2.95. As one among many thousands, Henri...
...In this cause célèbre Alleg is Dreyfus and Zola at the same time...
...Victim and hangman belong together and it depends only upon the times and circumstances which role is assumed...
...Tortures of fire and water, electricity and thirst...
...The collapse of the French policy, however, is also marked by the publication of this book, since the French government did everything to prevent the "internationalization" of the Algerian conflict...
...Having been a victim does not exclude becoming a hangman: the history of the Communist Parties in Eastern Europe should have already convinced us about this...
...New York, George Braziller, Inc...
...Introduction by Jean-Paul Sartre...
...That Lacoste was in an opposite role not so long ago, did not prevent him from assuming his present one...
...And all this is being committed in the name of "efficiency," in the name of a need of knowing the "truth...
...The purpose of this notice is not to give any details of the events described in this book, but rather to draw the attention of readers to its significance...
...And Alleg, leading member of the Algerian CP, might have or might not have assumed under other circumstances the role of the hangman...
...But Montaigne already knew that torture is not the test of truth but the test of endurance...
...They were able to force their will upon the 4th French Republic and bring about its downfall...
...And because of this, despite the agony and horror with which the pages of this book are filled, they become a sign of hope...
...As one among many thousands, Henri Alleg describes the tortures he underwent at the hands of the 10th Paratroop division in Algeria...
...It was seized precisely for its condemnation of the "Question," i.e...
...Yet his victory in the test of endurance becomes by a strange turn the victory of truth, of the truth that man's beliefs and his solidarity with his 'fellow-man cannot be broken by whatever pain and humiliation he has to undergo...
...The 10th Paratroop division under the command of Generals MM and S-, names marked in this translation by initials only, are today known by their full names in the headlines of our daily papers...
...yet after the bombing of Sakiet, the appearance of this book in a foreign language shows that the Algerian problem is already internationalized...
...yet the responsibility for the crimes rests not so much on the military, but on the Socialist Resident Minister in Algeria, Robert Lacoste, who not only condoned but did everything to cover up the sinister events in these torture chambers...
...torture to elicit confession...
...The crime committed here is beyond denunciation, the sorrow it inflicts upon the victims beyond lamentation...
...The publication of Alleg's book in this country and England is simultaneous with both the triumph and the collapse of French policy in Algeria...
...The guilty can remain silent and the innocent can take upon himself a false accusation, depending on their degree of endurance...
...This is the first book banned in France since Diderot's Encyclopedia in the 18th century...
Vol. 5 • July 1958 • No. 3
