Algerian Radio
The President of the Republic of Algeria, Mr. Abdelmadjid Tebboune, addressed a message yesterday, Thursday, on the occasion of National Memory Day, commemorating the 81st anniversary of the massacres of May 8, 1945. Here is the full text:
"In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, and prayers and peace be upon the most honorable of Messengers.
Dear Citizens,
On the eighth of May, the Algerian people recall the memory of one of the most heinous massacres and crimes of genocide against humanity in modern history. They recall that image—steeped in a colonial hatred among the most horrific humanity has ever suffered—which embodied a blatant disregard for the right to life. It was an image that expressed a moral collapse, devoid of the values of civilization that extremist circles still boast about and proclaim their falsehood to this day, unashamed of the lie of (colonialism as a carrier of modernization and civilization).
In total contradiction to this claim and falsehood, the massacres of May 8, 1945, were a genocide of unarmed Algerians—including women and children—on their own land and in their own home, demanding their right to freedom only to be exterminated (45,000 martyrs) under artillery fire and the tracks of war tractors, in cold blood and with fiery hatred. In those painful days, the manifestations of horror were many: entire villages were burned, terrifying executions took place, and dozens of martyrs were crammed into mass graves in Sétif, Guelma, and Kherrata for several days. These were unbearable scenes that will never fall from history; they will haunt their perpetrators with ignominy and shame, and haunt the advocates of disregard and forgetfulness—among their descendants—with the bankruptcy of their stance toward established facts.
The martyrs of Algeria in those tragic massacres were the fuel that hastened the arrival of the glorious First of November. The echoes of the suppression of the Algerian people, who aspired for salvation, reached international public opinion across the globe, bringing our just cause into the halls of the United Nations. Those harsh sacrifices will remain one of the chapters of our glorious contemporary history, present in all their details within the file of Memory—one of the most important determinants for building bridges toward relations freed from the crude glorification of a dark and unjust colonial era, and from an extremist discourse imprisoned in a vanished and delusional nostalgia.
In this context, while I salute all initiatives and events of a historical, intellectual, and cultural nature that coincide—each year—with this immortal anniversary in universities, schools, youth and cultural centers, and various platforms to combat forgetfulness and eternalize Algeria's glories, I announce that I have directed the Ministry of Mujahideen and Beneficiaries of Rights to begin the implementation of two projects: the first concerns national sessions for memory and history, and the second involves the preparation of a draft law concerning National Memory. This is in loyalty to the martyrs of the May 8, 1945 massacres and to the martyrs of Algeria, whose pure souls we pray for with deep reverence on National Memory Day, commemorating the eighty-first (81st) anniversary of those massacres. We renew our pledge to them to safeguard the trust and serve our redeemed homeland and the proud Algerian people, in a victorious, lofty, and resilient Algeria.
Long Live Algeria
Glory and Eternity to our Valiant Martyrs
And may the Peace, Mercy, and Blessings of Allah be upon you."
