The former leader of the Front National has had a podcast dedicated to him by Philippe Collin entitled “Jean-Marie Le Pen, national obsession”. We can hear in this second episode the historian Benjamin Stora formulate this sentence: “Jean-Marie Le Pen probably did not practice torture in Algeria.”
Statements that disturbed two other historians, André Loez and Fabrice Riceputi. The first is expressed in a tweet: “Although seemingly minimal, the “case” of the podcast affirming that Le Pen did not torture in Algeria seems to me important for historians: politically so as not to minimize these acts of course, but also and above all for what constitutes historical knowledge.”
For Florence Beaugé who worked on the subject of Algeria for our colleagues from Monde, declared : “Le Pen finds himself cleared of the accusation twice. On the one hand by Benjamin Stora, on the other hand by Philippe Collin, who innocently swallowed the snake. Le Pen did indeed and actively participate in the battle of Algiers!”
A choice of words
”In episode 2 of our series dedicated to Jean-Marie Le Pen, and in agreement with the historian Benjamin Stora, we have decided to clarify his point regarding Jean-Marie Le Pen and torture in Algeria. We had initially used the formula ‘Jean-Marie Le Pen probably did not practice torture in Algeria‘ but we finally made the choice to use the following words to be more explicit: ‘We cannot prove that Jean-Marie Le Pen tortured in Algeria but it is a possibility‘…”
Here is what has been written since March 9 on the page of episode 2 of the podcast devoted to the father of Marine Le Pen.
”They did the minimum service! Philippe Collin proves himself right in this way. The podcast is still online, clearing Le Pen. It is not this semblance of rectification that will repair the damage.”, explains Florence Beaugé who considers that this rectification on the France Inter site is unsatisfactory.
A mistake
The world contacted Benjamin Stora and explains: “The important thing for me was not to say whether Jean-Marie Le Pen had tortured or not. What interested me was the fabrication of the narrative of himself during the Algerian war, how he fabricates a character to appeal to his far-right electoral clientele. I may have made a mistake, I should have said that Le Pen tortured, as witnesses told Florence Beaugé. I did it in good faith, like a historian who has not seen written records.”
As for Philippe Collin, he says he is supported by his hierarchy and does not feel at all at fault. In the podcast we can now hear him say: “We cannot prove that Jean-Marie Le Pen practiced torture in Algeria but it is a possibility. In any case, Jean-Marie Le Pen justified torture. He can therefore be considered a torturer in the eyes of the international convention once morest torture.”
