''La Main Rouge'' () was a French terrorist organization operated by the French foreign intelligence agency (External Documentation and Counter-Espionage Service), or SDECE, in the 1950s. Its purpose was to eliminate the supporters of Algerian independence and the leading members of the ''Front de Libération Nationale'' (FLN) during the

Algerian War The Algerian War (also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence) ''; '' (and sometimes in Algeria as the ''War of 1 November'') was an armed conflict between France and the Algerian National Liberation Front (Algeri ...

. The assassination of the Tunisian labor unionist and independence activist

Farhat Hached Farhat Hached (; 2 February 1914 – 5 December 1952) was a Tunisians, Tunisian labor unionist and activist who was assassinated by ''La Main Rouge'', a France, French terrorist organization operated by French foreign intelligence. He was one of ...

on December 5, 1952 is attributed to ''La Main Rouge''. Several bomb attacks took place in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

, like the assassination attempts on the arms dealer Otto Schlüter on 26 September 1956 and 3 June 1957, and the killing of Georg Puchert (alias Captain Morris), another German arms dealer, on 3 March 1959. These cases would ultimately never be solved. On 27 November 1959, 30-year-old Christian Durieux gave an interview in which he claimed the attempts against the lives of Schlüter and Puchert and the bomb attack in the

port of Hamburg The Port of Hamburg (, ) is a seaport on the river Elbe in Hamburg, Germany, from its mouth on the North Sea. Known as Germany's "Gateway to the World" (), it is the country's largest seaport by volume. In terms of TEU throughput, Hambur ...

against the cargo ship ''Atlas ''on 1 October 1958, were all carried out on behalf of ''La Main Rouge''. He also claimed responsibility for the assassination of FLN official Améziane Aït Ahcène in Bonn, in November 1958. The ambassador of the Algerian FLN in West Germany, the above mentioned Aït Ahcène, was shot from a moving car on November 5, 1958 in

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

and died months later in a Tunisian hospital. The attack is attributed to ''La Main Rouge''. The freighters ''Emma'', en route from

Tangier Tangier ( ; , , ) is a city in northwestern Morocco, on the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The city is the capital city, capital of the Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region, as well as the Tangier-Assilah Prefecture of Moroc ...

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

on 30 July 1957, and ''Alkaira'', in

Ostend Ostend ( ; ; ; ) is a coastal city and municipality in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke, Raversijde, Stene and Zandvoorde, and the city of Ostend proper – the la ...

on 13 April 1959, were destroyed by explosive charges planted by ''La Main Rouge''. In particular, the apparent inaction of the French authorities was seen abroad as a tacit admission by the French government that it had caused the aggressive crackdown on supporters of the FLN.

References

Bibliography

* Helmut Roewer, Stefan Schäfer, Matthias Uhl: Lexikon of the intelligence services in the 20th century. Herbig, Munich 2003, . * Subchapters: Against West Germany, in: Matthias Ritzi/Erich Schmidt-Eenboom: In the shadow of the Third Reich. The BND and his agent Richard Christmann, Berlin (Ch. Links Verlag) 2011, S. 186-200 * Pierre Genève: La main rouge, Paris (Éd. Nord-Sud) in 1960. * Antoine Méléro: La main rouge. L ' Armée secrète de la République, Paris (ed. du Rocher) 1997 * Claus Leggewie: Porter. The Algeria project of the left in the Adenauer Germany, Berlin (red book publisher) 1984 * Wolfgang Kraushaar: The protest Chronicle 1949-1959 - an illustrated history of movement, resistance and Utopia. Vol. I-IV. Rogner & Bernhard at Zweitausendeins, Hamburg of 1996 . {{DEFAULTSORT:Main Rouge Organizations established in the 1950s Directorate-General for External Security Espionage scandals and incidents Terrorism in France Maritime incidents in 1957 Maritime incidents in 1958 Maritime incidents in 1959 Improvised explosive device bombings in Germany Paramilitary organizations based in France State-sponsored terrorism Terrorism in Germany Military units and formations of France in the Algerian War French intelligence operations Terrorism committed by France Terrorism in the Algerian War French war crimes in Algeria Battle of Algiers (1956–1957)

See also

References

Bibliography