Maurice Audin
| Maurice Audin | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
14 February 1932 Béja, French Tunisia |
| Died | after 11 June 1957 |
| Citizenship | French |
| Alma mater | University of Algiers |
| Doctoral advisor | Laurent Schwartz |
Maurice Audin (14 February 1932 – after 11 June 1957) was a French mathematics assistant at the University of Algiers, a member of the Algerian Communist Party and an activist in the anticolonialist cause, who was one of the "disappeared" during the Battle of Algiers.
In the centre of Algiers, beside the university, the intersection of streets bearing the names of several other heroes of the Algerian Revolution is called the Place Maurice-Audin.
During the Battle of Algiers, Maurice Audin was arrested at his home on 11 June 1957, by Captain Devis, Lieutenant Philippe Erulin and several soldiers of the First Parachute Regiment of the French Army. He was taken to the Villa Susini in the fashionable neighborhood of El Biar for interrogation.
A trap was installed in the apartment of the Audin family and Henri Alleg, the former editor of the Alger républicain, was arrested there the next day.
Doctor Georges Hadjadj later admitted that, under torture, he had given Audin's name to men working for Paul Aussaresses, following threats that his wife would be raped.
Audin was last seen alive by Henri Alleg, one day after his arrest. Alleg had just been arrested, and the paratroopers attempted to intimidate him by showing Audin, who had been tortured and was "agash and confused". Pressed to tell Alleg how torture would feel, he said "it is tough, Henri" (c'est dur, Henri). Alleg described the events in La Question; he also mentioned later hearing a prisoner dragged away and gunshots, that he assumed were Audin's summary execution.
Audin's wife and their three children never received any further information about him. According to Pierre Vidal-Naquet, who wrote in May 1958, in the first edition of L'affaire Audin, that escape was impossible, Maurice Audin died under torture on 21 June 1957, at the hands of Lieutenant André Charbonnier (a graduate of Saint-Cyr who was nicknamed "the doctor" because he liked to use a scalpel on his victims), under the orders of the General Jacques Massu. According to the French Army, Maurice Audin tried to escape by jumping from a jeep during a transfer. However, in November 1960, Charbonnier told Vidal-Naquet that he had strangled Audin and buried the body in Fort l’Empereur in El Biar.
...
Wikipedia