Repatriation service for foreign legionnaires

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The Repatriation Service for Foreign Legionnaires (RFL) was an agency of the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) operating between October 1956 and late summer 1962 and subordinated to its military arm, the Algerian National Liberation Army (ALN) , which operated from Morocco . Their task was to induce foreign legionaries fighting in Algeria to desert and then to enable them to return to their home countries. The RFL also had the task of establishing contacts with political parties, trade unions and mass media in Europe for the FLN and, in particular , of coordinating the work of the porters there in Germany .

The establishment of the repatriation service

The establishment of the RFL goes back to an initiative of Si Mustapha-Müller .

Si Mustapha-Müller had to flee France in 1956 because of his work for the FLN and was waiting in Morocco for a new assignment in the ranks of the FLN. His accidental use as an interpreter during the interrogation of deserted Foreign Legionnaires then led to the idea of ​​“ developing a project for these mercenaries within the framework of psychological warfare , similar to the model practiced by the Red Army against Germans”, which Müller based on his participation in National Committee Free Germany was familiar.

In October 1956, by resolution of the Conseil National de la Révolution Algérienne (CNRA), a repatriation service for the Foreign Legionnaires ("Service de Rapatriement des Légionaires Étrangères") was created as the official agency of the FLN and under the command of Abdelhafid Boussouf . The goals of this organization, which Si Mustapha-Müller was entrusted to manage and which was based in the Villa Dar Brixa on Triq Oued-Laou in Tetouan , Morocco, is outlined by the historian Fritz Keller as follows:

  • “The aim of the return service, which has been declared as part of psychological warfare, is primarily to 'raise public awareness' (Sensibilisation de l'Opinion Publique Étrangere). The deserters are supposed to provide material that can be used for journalism in surveys.
  • Another goal is the attempt to use the recruitment campaign to promote the ›transformation of an elite unit into a factor of uncertainty for the enemy‹ (Transformation du Corps d'Elite en un Facteur d'Insecurité pour l'Ennemi).
  • Thirdly, the return service should be a 'means of recognizing the revolution on an international level' (Moyen de Reconnaissance de la Révolution a l'Échelle Internationale). "

According to Si Mustapha-Müller, who put it a little more pragmatically, the return service “had three tasks:
1. Educating the Algerian population to help the refugees.
2. Creation of the necessary organizational requirements.
3. Announcement of these rescue options within the Legion. "

Life in the Villa Dar Brixa

The establishment of the repatriation service in the villa was also a reaction to previous difficulties in helping ex-legionnaires to escape, because their escape often ended in a prison in Spanish Morocco at the beginning . If there was no consular representation from their home countries taking care of them, it was not uncommon for them to be extradited back to the French by the Spaniards. Only after the refugees were better looked after and supported by the FLN, the Spanish authorities refrained from imprisonment, and after Moroccan independence the Villa Dar Brixa was given to the FLN for the repatriation service.

In 1960, another German joined the repatriation service, who later provided insights into the inner workings of the repatriation service in a book.

Kusserow worked as a kind of secretary for Si Mustapha-Müller, whose name he, whom he still knew as Winfried Müller, was Si Ahmed for inexplicable reasons, and had to deal primarily with German-language correspondence. He maintained written contact with the supporter scene and the press and provided both with information material, including the bulletin of the repatriation service for deserted foreign legionaries . He usually had to pick up the mail in the morning from the internationally known post office box with number 399, which was the official address of the repatriation service. That was not without risk, as attacks by the French secret service were always to be expected outside the villa and in at least one case there was a letter bomb in the inbox, the explosion of which could just be prevented.

The building, located in a large garden, consisted of the ground floor and a floor with a terrace. Below were two rooms, one of which was occupied by the Algerian guards and the other served as a pantry. There was also a kitchen and an entrance hall in which meals were taken. On the upper floor there were two larger rooms for the accommodation of the Foreign Legionnaires waiting for their journey home, while Si Mustapha-Müller lived in a smaller room with a view of the garden: a rusty camp bed, a camping wardrobe and an old desk were his furniture. Apart from the guards, the regular crew consisted of five people: two cooks, Kusserow and another secretary as well as Si Mustapha-Müller. They were forced to live a spartan life: there was water only in the courtyard, and in the house there was no toilet or bathroom; New pits were repeatedly dug in the garden for the residents' necessities. Those who really wanted to take a bath had to rent a hotel room for a modest wage; Exit for private pleasure was only available on Saturday until midnight.

The villa was a transit station for the deserted Foreign Legionnaires. As a rule, they lived here for two to three weeks before they could travel to their home countries or to a country that was willing to grant them a residence permit. Not all deserters could or wanted to return to the country from which they came. Many ex-legionnaires from the GDR preferred to go to the Federal Republic, and many of the men who joined the Foreign Legion after the Hungarian uprising often showed no inclination to return to Hungary. In such cases, the repatriation service had to endeavor to apply for a Nansen passport with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and to find a country of asylum. In addition, the FLN paid for the cost of clothing and accommodation for the deserters and also paid them pocket money. In the case of the Germans among them, the German consulate advanced the cost of the flight tickets, and "the legionaries later repaid the so-called repatriation loan in installments".

From the work of the repatriation service

New organizational structures had to be created for the repatriation service and the poaching propaganda within the Legion had to be promoted. In addition, the Algerian population had to be won over to support the deserters, which was the most difficult thing to do in the beginning, given their experience with the Foreign Legion. Constant educational work was required, but occasionally the FLN police organization had to resort to sanctions when assistance was refused. Gradually, a nationwide aid network could be built up, and the Foreign Legionnaires were addressed directly with leaflets and other methods and, after their desertion, mostly brought to their home countries via (Spanish) Morocco. They were attracted by “leaflets in which those who had fled inform their former comrades about their successful escape by means of photos that they are accompanied by busty women [..]. In pubs and brothels, legionaries are addressed directly by agents of the repatriation service. Street vendors and shoeshine boys hand the legionnaires this propaganda material in which they are urged to desert. [..] Sometimes Mustapha helps the mercenaries' thinking process with some solid arguments. He lures drunk legionnaires into an ambush, drugged them with a chin hook, tied them up and dragged them across the border to Tetuan. They can then no longer return to the Legion because they are distrusted and treated accordingly. "

Si Mustapha-Müller wrote in his guest article in Spiegel about a real network of agents within the Legion. Obtaining information from the Legion is no less important task than poaching, which is why he is actively involved in interrogating the defectors. “The deserted Foreign Legionnaires were systematically questioned in order to exploit their experiences in a journalistic way, but also to collect military information that could significantly improve the military strategy of the ALN.” Si Mustapha-Müller was also “his own perfect PR man”, the ensured that the work of the repatriation service also became known in the legionnaires' countries of origin, especially in Germany. On February 19, 1957, the Bild Zeitung reported on page 1 in the usual large letters about an action by Santa Claus , with which a “secret power” would have freed 100 German legionaries. A German ex-legionnaire was allowed to explain in detail the background to the escape. In Erika Fehse's film, Werner Händler, a former employee of the German broadcaster of the GDR , describes how they tried to convey the "smell of baked apples over our Christmas program" in their nightly broadcasts in order to awaken feelings of home in the die-hard men of the Legion which should ultimately lead to escape. In the guest contribution mentioned, Si Mustapha-Müller gave insights into his work and that of the repatriation service.

Solidarity in the German-speaking area

In the Federal Republic of Germany there was a wide range of support for the Algerian independence efforts. This included help for French conscientious objectors as well as support for the repatriation service.

“The repatriation service could only function if there were enough contact points in the legionnaires' countries of origin. Mustapha-Müller contacted politicians like Wischnewski and journalists like Gert von Paczensky and Bernt Engelmann , established relationships with the " Friends of Nature " and industrial unions, and provided everyone with material, testimonies and photos. An important liaison man in the Federal Republic was Klaus Vack , active at the time of his meeting with Mustapha-Müller in the summer of 1960 in the » Naturfreundejugend « and as a union secretary. "

- Claus Leggewie : Kofferträger , p. 99

The Naturefriends Youth and the Repatriation Service

Klaus Vack dated the beginning of the activities in support of the Algerian Liberation War by some regional associations of the Naturefriends Youth (NFJ) to the year 1958. The solidarity actions had increased in 1960, parallel to the similar commitment of the Socialist Youth of Germany - Die Falken , the union youth or the Socialist German Student Union (SDS). An important role in the support of Algeria emerged from the Manifesto of 121 , which was adopted on September 6, 1960 in France. The National Youth Committee of the NFJ joined this in November 1960. In August 1961 the national youth leadership of the NFJ put together extensive material for group work in the association's own training booklet Wir sind Jung , which should enable the groups to find out about the background to the Algerian liberation struggle. Part of the booklet was also a field report from three NFJ functionaries (see below), who had the opportunity to get to know the work of the return service on site in the Moroccan-Algerian border region.

These activities were not hidden from Si Mustapha-Müller, and so “a contact was made in the summer of 1960 that was probably the most momentous for the NFJ's solidarity in Algeria. The Algerian officer Si Mustafa contacted me through a trade unionist with the request that the Hessian NFJ organize a press conference for him. Si Mustafa had already been to other cities in the Federal Republic and was now looking for an opportunity in southern Hesse to present the Algerian goals to the public. To our surprise, this Algerian officer was able to present his explanations fluently in German in well-composed words. “The Hessian Naturefriends Youth subsequently became the most important pillar of the repatriation service in the FRG. Vack writes about the way they work:

“Si Mustafa sent us addresses of potential deserters from Tetuan. He got this from people who had already deserted. We sent typewritten or handwritten personal letters to these legionaries. The letters were sent via the 'trust network' in different places and at different times so that the addressees did not receive mail at the same time and were endangered. The sender was almost always female names (real non-existent people); this was less noticeable during the post control because most of the Foreign Legionnaires exchanged letters with women in their home countries. Another working method consisted in evaluating personals in the tabloids (“Grünes Blatt”, “Gondel” etc.). Many homesick legionnaires tried to exchange letters with a 'nice girl' in such advertisements. Instead of a girl, someone answered who informed about the hopeless situation of the French army in general and the units of the Foreign Legion in particular and indicated the way to go from the Foreign Legion to the Algerians and get home free of charge through the repatriation service . "

- Klaus Vack : The Algeria Solidarity of the Friends of Nature Youth , p. 108

Vack reports about thirty people who took part in this action from 1960 onwards and who “probably wrote about 20,000 letters by hand” during that time. In recognition of their solidarity, three members of the management team of the Hessian Naturefriends Youth, Klaus Vack, Fritz Amann and Horst Goßfelder, were allowed from April 23 to May 6, 1961 , with an official invitation from the return service to “Algerian institutions in Morocco and with a border crossing to Algeria itself " visit. Her companion was Si Mustapha-Müller.

Klaus Vack was sentenced in absentia to 20 years imprisonment by a French military court for his involvement. The conviction was overturned in 1967 as part of an amnesty.

Austrian support for the repatriation service

Si Mustapha-Müller did not only find support for the repatriation service in Germany. In his dissertation in 2010, Fritz Keller dealt extensively with the solidarity of the Austrian left with the Algerian resistance movement and refers to well-known supporters who came from the ranks of the Social Democratic Party of Austria or its youth organization: Bruno Kreisky , Rudolf Kirchschläger , Peter Strasser or Karl Blecha . A special role was played by Reimar Holzinger (* 1923), a young socialist who worked in the French Resistance and who, together with KPÖ members and Trotskyists, had formed an informal group to support the Algerian struggle for independence.

The GDR and the repatriation service

The radio broadcasts on the German broadcaster of the GDR , which the GDR wanted to use to induce legionnaires to flee, have already been referred to above. Kusserow also reports on a television team from the GDR, supervised by the repatriation service, which was staged for the parades of ALN fighters, but also about solidarity campaigns in the GDR. The weekly post had collected money for two ambulances, the delivery of which was also part of the television report. Radio Berlin International even started an “Arabic special program” broadcast in Arabic, German and French under Heinz Odermann, who is responsible for the Arabic programs. It consisted of “exclamations to flee from the Legion. The corresponding texts came from us, from Tetouan: the messages from the repatriation service provided the material for the shipments ”.

It is evident that due to Si Mustapah's political past as a graduate of the SED's “Karl Marx” college and his exclusion from the West German KPD because of the accusation of Trotskyism, it could not be easy to include the GDR in the repatriation service. On the other hand, the GDR leadership felt obliged to fight the "anti-imperialist liberation movements" and launched calls to the Foreign Legionnaires stationed in Algeria as early as 1957, calling on them to desert. Si Mustapha-Müller himself offered an East Berlin newspaper material on the Algerian liberation struggle as early as August 1957 and thus started a long-term cooperation - albeit without revealing his true identity.

In June 1960, an official GDR delegation came to Morocco to hold talks with the Algerian Liberation Front. "Major Si Mustapha" also takes part in these talks and submits an extensive catalog of demands for support for the repatriation service by the GDR. Keller leaves open whether Si Mustapha-Müller's real identity was already known at the time, and at the end of July 1960 he traveled to the GDR with a Tunisian passport made out in the name of Mustapha Quazzani. He does this not only as head of the repatriation service, but as "one of the four main clients of the FLN in arms deals". Si Mustapha-Müller had canceled a press conference in Berlin planned for this trip out of fear of the SED; he was also observed by the Stasi under the code name Palmakowski. Polkehn refers to two further visits by Si Mustapha-Müller to the GDR in 1961 and March 1962. Kusserow, who in his contacts with the GDR always tried to hide his identity - and thus also his history as a GDR refugee - found out about him Fall 2001 that there had been Stasi files about him since 1955 .

The balance sheet of the repatriation service

In January 1962, under French pressure, Si Mustapha-Müller did not want the German government to renew his German passport. According to Khenifer Sid-Ali, this sparked protests from numerous politicians and also met with broad public protest. The Algerian War of Independence ended two months later. About the role that the Federal Republic played in him, Sid-Ali concluded:

“In late 1957 and early 1958 until independence, the Federal Republic was the preferred hinterland of the Algerian insurgents. More than a third of the FLN weapons came from West Germany, which also became a refuge for the persecuted Algerians, huge FLN funds were hidden there and the future of Algeria was being prepared. It is therefore clear that the Algerian conflict was a very significant problem for the Adenauer government , as it severely damaged bilateral relations between Germany and France on the one hand and between Germany and the non-aligned countries on the other . Thanks to the positive secondary foreign policy of the Social Democrats and the good relations of the BND and the New Left with the rebellious Algerians , the West German government undertook a clever double policy that was able to preserve German interests in France and the Third World. "

- Khenifer Sid-Ali : The Federal Republic in the Shadow of the Algerian War , pdf-S. 180

A piece of the mosaic in this network of liberation struggle and foreign policy opportunity was the repatriation service under Si Mustapha-Müller, who was never officially recognized by the German authorities for his services in repatriating German Foreign Legionnaires. On September 15, 1962, the repatriation service officially declared its work done. He thanks for the international support and notes the success of his six years of work with the 4,111 legionnaires whom he was able to help to return home.

Origin of the
repatriated legionaries		 number
German 2,783
Spaniards 489
Italian 447
Hungary 137
Yugoslavs 87
Belgian 41
Swiss 35
Austrian 31
Scandinavians 16
Dutch 19th
Luxembourger 7th
Greeks 3
English people 9
Americans 2
South American 3
Korean 1
Bulgarian 1

On a German-language website, on which legionnaires for the Foreign Legion are still being recruited, the success of the repatriation service is of course seen and presented very differently until today. Based on the sometimes illegal recruitment practice of the Foreign Legion, which is dismissed as “the fairy tale of“ kidnapping and blackmail ”, the anti-communist card is still being played and it is pretended that it was primarily East German legionnaires who tried to break away . Si Mustapha-Müller is defamed as a Stalinist ; he was "practically [.] inclined", but without any potential danger for the legion, which moreover had only lost a relatively small number of legionnaires through Si Mustapha-Müller's actions.

The two main German actors in the repatriation service, who had known each other since Pentecost 1954, but had completely different ideas about a liberated Algeria, went their separate ways after Algerian independence. Si Mustapha-Müller worked in Algerian ministries before founding and managing Algerian national parks. He suffered a heart attack on October 9, 1993 and was buried in the Tassilin National Park, which he founded.

Mourad Kusserow, who had known early on that "the new Algeria, which was ideologically oriented towards the Eastern Bloc, [...], the politically recognized GDR refugee, could not offer a home", traveled to Algiers in the autumn of 1962, but did After only a few weeks he returned to Morocco and lived there until the summer of 1965. He then went to Germany and on September 1, 1965, started a position at Deutsche Welle in Cologne. Until his retirement in autumn 1994 he was editor of the “Central Service for Politics and Economy”. His dream country Morocco was the subject of several books he wrote or edited, and after his retirement he, who was married to a Moroccan woman, lived again as a correspondent in Agadir . Since 2001 he has been commuting between Agadir and Germany. He died in May 2019.

literature

Web links

Movies

  • Mustapha Müller, deserter , director: Lorenz Findeisen. The film was broadcast on Arte on February 10, 2018 . The half-hour film is not available in the public media libraries. A German version can be obtained from Lichblick Film in Cologne ; A French version is available on youtube : Les oubliés de l'histoire: Winfried Muller dit Si Mustapha Muller .
  • Si Mustapha-Müller - A short time of fame , director: Erika Fehse. This film, which was awarded the Franco-German Prize for Journalism in 1993 and was broadcast by WDR and arte , is unfortunately not available for public screenings. It focuses on the person of Winfried Müller / Si Mustapha-Müller, but provides excellent background knowledge for understanding the work of the repatriation service.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Fritz Keller: A life on the edge of probability , p. 45
  2. ^ National Council of the Algerian Revolution , highest decision-making body of the FLN
  3. ^ Fritz Keller: A life on the edge of probability , pp. 45–46
  4. ↑ a b Manuscript by Si Mustapha-Müller from 1958, quoted from Klaus Polkehn: Die Mission des Si Mustapha , p. 35
  5. ↑ Fritz Keller: A life on the edge of probability , pp. 48–49
  6. ^ Mourad Kusserow: Flaneur between Orient and Occident , p. 67
  7. ↑ Mourad Kusserow: Flaneur between Orient and Occident , p. 71
  8. ↑ Mourad Kusserow: Flaneur between Orient and Occident , pp. 60–61
  9. ↑ Mourad Kusserow: Flaneur between Orient and Occident , p. 61
  10. ↑ Mourad Kusserow: Flaneur between Orient and Occident , p. 83. For further details see the SPIEGEL article [ Algeria. Those who desert must call Alemani ].
  11. ^ Fritz Keller: A life on the edge of probability , pp. 51–52
  12. ↑ a b Der Spiegel September 2nd, 1959: Anyone who deserted must call Alemani
  13. ↑ Khenifer Sid-Ali: The Federal Republic in the Shadow of the Algerian War , pdf-S. 151
  14. ↑ Claus Leggewie: Kofferträger , p. 94
  15. ↑ The article, which extends over pages 1 and 2, is printed by Fritz Keller: A life on the edge of probability , pp. 56–57
  16. ↑ Si Mustapha-Müller - A short time of fame , a film by Erika Fehse
  17. ↑ Klaus Vack: Die Algerien-Solidarität der Naturfreunde-Jugend , pp. 104-105
  18. ↑ We are young, training booklet for the Naturfreunde youth and children's groups , Verlag Freizeit und Wander, Stuttgart 1961, issue 3, August 1961
  19. ^ Klaus Vack: The Algeria Solidarity of the Friends of Nature Youth , p. 107
  20. ↑ Two interview sections about the activities of Vack and the Hessian Naturefriends Youth are part of Erika Fehse's documentary.
  21. ↑ Klaus Vack: Si Mustafa, the Red Hand and 4000 German deserters , in: Werner Balser / Karl Rössel (ed.): Hoch die Internationale Solidarität , p. 77
  22. ↑ Klaus Vack: The Algeria Solidarity of the Friends of Nature Youth , p. 110
  23. ^ Klaus Vack: The Algeria Solidarity of the Friends of Nature Youth , p. 109
  24. ^ Fritz Keller: Solidarity of the Austrian Left with the Algerian Resistance Movement
  25. ↑ For details on Reimar Holzinger see Fritz Keller: Solidarity of the Austrian Left with the Algerian Resistance Movement , pdf-S. 35 ff.
  26. ↑ Mourad Kusserow: Flaneur between Orient and Occident , pp. 132-133
  27. ↑ Biographical data Short Heinz Or Man
  28. ↑ Mourad Kusserow: Flaneur between Orient and Occident , p. 128. See also Heinz Odermann: From one who set out to find freedom. The adventures of Alemani Mourad , Neues Deutschland , November 22, 2002.
  29. ↑ Fritz Keller: A Life on the Edge of Probability , p. 67 ff.
  30. ↑ Fritz Keller: A life on the edge of probability , p. 79
  31. ↑ Fritz Keller: A Life on the Edge of Probability , p. 80
  32. ↑ Fritz Keller: A Life on the Edge of Probability , p. 89
  33. ↑ Klaus Polkehn: The Mission of Si Mustapha , p. 42
  34. ↑ Mourad Kusserow: Flaneur between Orient and Occident , p. 127
  35. ↑ a b Khenifer Sid-Ali: The Federal Republic in the Shadow of the Algerian War , pdf-S. 168.Sid-Ali refers to an article in the Westfälische Rundschau from January 27, 1962 (p. 8)
  36. ↑ Quoted from a document of the return service printed by Khenifer Sid-Ali. ( The Federal Republic in the shadow of the Algerian War , pdf-p. 203)
  37. ↑ The Foreign Legion: Myth and Truth . This page, for which there is no legal notice, only a reference to an email address, gives the impression of design and content as if it were an official website of the Foreign Legion.
  38. ↑ Mourad Kusserow: Make it over ... A childhood and youth in the Soviet zone of occupation / GDR , Verlag Donata Kinzelbach, Mainz 2008, ISBN 978-3-927069-88-6 , p. 154
  39. ↑ a b c Mourad Kusserow: biography