Robert Barrat (journalist)

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Robert Barrat (born March 12, 1919 in Douai , Département Nord , † August 16, 1976 in Paris ) was a French author, journalist and staunch advocate of anti-colonialism .

Live and act

In 1937 Barrat began his studies in Paris at the École normal supérieure ( Quartier Latin ). The following year he made an extensive trip through Algeria and began to question the colonial policy of his country.

During the German occupation , Barrat was a member of the Resistance and supported the Forces françaises libres . Barrat began working as a journalist in the year Paris was liberated , and the following year he was appointed editor-in-chief of the newspaper Témoignage chrétien .

Through this work, Barrat et al. a. the acquaintance of the orientalist Louis Massignon and with him founded an aid organization for Arab refugees from Bethlehem ( West Bank ). Between 1950 and 1955, Barrat also acted as general secretary of the Center catholique des intellectuels franças (CCIF) in parallel to his journalistic duties . As such, he was invited in October 1954 to accompany the Interior Minister François Mitterrand on his information trip to Algeria. Since Barrat, as an opponent of the Union française, also spoke out against the French doctrine , he made his own trip to Algeria the following year, together with some like-minded colleagues. He met with some freedom fighters and then reported in detail in a series of articles in France-Observateur .

This action earned him a stay of several days in prison and was released without charge when widespread resistance in the media and among the population immediately arose. In November of the same year, Barrat founded the Comité d'action des intellectuels contre la guerre d'Algérie . Through this committee, Barrat organized a meeting in 1956 between Pierre Mendès France and the representatives of the FLN Salah Louanchi and Ahmed Taleb Ibrahimi .

Together with Jacques Panijel , Paul Thibaud and Pierre Vidal-Naquet , Barrat founded the magazine Vérite-Liberté in 1960 . At the same time, he was entrusted with the management of the Paris office of the magazine Afrique Action . In September of the same year, Barrat, as a signatory of the 121 manifesto, again spoke out against the Algerian war . As the initiator of this action, he was detained in Fresnes Prison for 16 days .

Robert Barrat died on August 16, 1976 at the age of 57 in Paris, where he found his final resting place.

Fonts (selection)

Essays
Books
  • Justice pour Maroc . Seuil, Paris 1953 (preface by François Mauriac )
  • Charles de Foucauld et la fraternity . Seuil, Paris 1961.
  • A journalist au cœur de la guerre d'Algérie . Éditions de l'Aube, La Tour-d'Aigues 2001, ISBN 2-87678-670-2 .
  • Les Maquis de la liberté . Editions de l'Aube, La Tour-d'Aigues 1988.
  • Algérie 1956. Live blanc sur la répression . Éditions de l'Aube, La Tour-d'Aigues 2001, ISBN 2-87678-668-0 (preface by Pierre Vidal-Naquet).

literature

  • Martin Evans: The memory of resistance. French opposition to the Algerian War 1954–1962 . Berg Publ., Oxford 1997, ISBN 1-85973-927-X (also dissertation, University of Sussex 1994).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Founded in 1941 in Lyon by the Jesuit father Pierre Chaillet (1900–1972).
  2. ↑ at that time already minister without portfolio .
personal data
SURNAME Barrat, Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French author, journalist and strong advocate of anti-colonialism
DATE OF BIRTH March 12, 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH Douai , North Department
DATE OF DEATH August 16, 1976
Place of death Paris