|
|
NEWS
First Arab Book About Holocaust Stirs Controversy in
Algeria
By Arnon Yaffeh, Paris
The first Arab book about the Holocaust, which relates the
story of a Nazi who served in the Algerian underground during
the war against France and was later made mayor of an
Algerian city, was immediately taken off the shelves and
denounced by Algerian authorities. Author Boualem Sansal
wrote Le village de l'Allemand, published by leading
French publisher Gallimard, about a town far from his
hometown in Algeria.
Several years ago, in one of his visits to the town as a
Ministry of Industry official, Sansal discovered that the
mayor was a German Nazi who had fled from Egypt after the war
and had been sent by Gamal Nasser to assist the Algerian
underground gather intelligence. Sansal says the recruitment
of Nazis for the National Liberation Front underground is one
of the war secrets that has never come to light, and reveals
the ties between Arab nationalists and Nazis.
"Several Germans who came to fight alongside the Algerians
secured high-level posts in the government after [Algeria]
won independence," he told Le Monde in an interview.
Sansal said he used the role of the Nazis in order to write
about the Holocaust in Algeria. "I asked myself whether
Algeria, an Arab, Muslim country, can talk about the
Holocaust, which does not exist in Algeria and is officially
denied. The Holocaust has been totally erased from Arab
countries. It has no trace anywhere, not in the media and not
in the schools. If it happens to be mentioned, it is only to
claim that it is a Jewish fabrication, a scheme and a lie by
the Jews."
Sansal had to invent characters — two Algerian brothers
who, while studying in France, discover their father had been
a Nazi war criminal. "I wanted to make the Maghrebs and the
Arab world understand that this book was meant for them, so
that they would feel, over the course of dozens of pages, the
crimes [that were perpetrated] in order to demonstrate that
the Holocaust is not [merely] a war crime, but much more than
that."
For now there is little chance they will be reading his book.
The Arabs are irate over the connection the author draws
between Nazis and Islamic fundamentalists, whom he casts as
the heirs to the Nazi legacy.
Despite the book ban, Sansal is staying put in Algeria for
now. "I have to consider each step and the risks posed to me
by the Islamists, the government and the street," he said.
But chances are that he will soon have to flee the country
following his latest book.
|
