French official archives still held Algeria war secrets long after the conflict

Evidence

In France the sack-loads of archives removed from the Gouvernement-Général in the last days of the war lie, sealed from the public gaze, in the repositories of the University of Aix-en-Provence; in Algiers, the official archives were only just beginning to be assembled in a splendid new centre in 1984. Yet, meanwhile, memories are fading and eye-witnesses dying, their recollections unrecorded. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 36 (#expands, via linked claim)

Perhaps the best of much advice I received in the preparation of this book came from another of Algeria’s top ambassadors abroad. “Be absolutely honest,” he said, “and admit it if you have only seen part of the picture.” For the very real difficulties outlined above, I cannot claim to have seen anything like the “whole picture”; but it may be open to doubt whether anyone—French, Algerian or outsider—could do so at this moment. Possibly now no one ever will. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 17 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: French colonial war archives remained sealed while memories and witnesses faded. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 36; The Algerian War proved too recent for any definitive historical account; The full truth of the Algerian war may now be permanently unknowable to anyone — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 17

Related

• French colonial war archives remained sealed while memories and witnesses faded. (similarity 0.94)
• The Algerian War proved too recent for any definitive historical account (similarity 0.91)
• The full truth of the Algerian war may now be permanently unknowable to anyone (similarity 0.89)
• Algerian war sources even disagree over key meeting dates (similarity 0.87)
• Algeria’s ingrained secretiveness and post-independence factionalism still obscure the revolution’s history (similarity 0.84)
• Algeria preserved but blanked out French colonial war memorials rather than demolishing them (similarity 0.82)
• The responsibility for Olympio’s murder remains unestablished because French archives stayed sealed. (similarity 0.82)
• A lingering Algerian hatred of French rule simmers until it erupts into war (similarity 0.80)
• Rapidly shifting loyalties in wartime France weakened Algerian trust in any authority (similarity 0.80)
• Defeat in Algeria paradoxically produced a stronger France (similarity 0.79)
• An Algeria cut off from France could not survive more than a fortnight (similarity 0.79)
• Algeria’s loss paradoxically produced a stronger postcolonial France (similarity 0.79)
• Algeria descended into a secret civil war parallel to the main front (similarity 0.79)
• Boumedienne remained almost entirely unknown despite becoming Algeria’s president (similarity 0.79)
• Algeria’s post-independence ‘peace’ proved as savage as its war (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• French colonial war archives remained sealed while memories and witnesses faded. #expands (0.80) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 36
• The full truth of the Algerian war may now be permanently unknowable to anyone #expands (0.75) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 17
• The Algerian War proved too recent for any definitive historical account #corroborates (0.60)