“Sétif Massacre” — Algeria, 1945

The run-up to the Algerian War of Independence

Flag of the Algerian nationalists in 1945 CC BY-SA 2.0 — Reda Kerbouche — wiki

On 8 May 1945, the very day on which news of Nazi Germany’s capitulation reached the West, a spontaneous uprising broke out in the Algerian town of Sétif and some surrounding villages. Several dozen French colonists were killed by a frenzied mob demanding Algerian independence. The incident provoked a violent reaction from the…