Fernand Iveton (his surname is sometimes erroneously rendered as "Yveton"; 12 January 1926,

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

– 11 February 1957) was the only

pied noir The ''Pieds-Noirs'' (; ; ''Pied-Noir''), are the people of French and other European descent who were born in Algeria during the period of French rule from 1830 to 1962; the vast majority of whom departed for mainland France as soon as Alg ...

among the 198 supporters of the FLN who were executed (as opposed to being killed in battle) during the

Algerian War The Algerian War, also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence,( ar, الثورة الجزائرية '; '' ber, Tagrawla Tadzayrit''; french: Guerre d'Algérie or ') and sometimes in Algeria as the War of 1 November ...

. Iveton was born in 1926 in

to a Spanish mother and a French father. The father was a member of the

Algerian Communist Party The Algerian Communist Party (french: Parti Communiste Algérien; ar, الحزب الشيوعي الجزائري) was a communist party in Algeria. The PCA emerged in 1920 as an extension of the French Communist Party (PCF) and eventually beca ...

(PCA) which the younger Iveton also joined, at the age of sixteen. When the PCA and the FLN signed an agreement in 1956, Iveton, who was a member of the Communist

Combattants de la Libération Les Combattants de la Libération (CDL), also known as ''Le Maquis Rouge'', were a guerrilla group established by the Algerian Communist Party (PCA) after the outbreak of the Algerian War of Independence. The FLN did not welcome a rival on the s ...

joined the FLN as an individual member. In November 1956, Iveton, who worked as a turner at the Algerian Gas Company, was given the task of planting a bomb at the

Hamma Hamma is a village and a former municipality in the Nordhausen district, in Thuringia, Germany. Since 1 December 2010, it has been part of the town Heringen Heringen (Werra) is a small town in Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in eastern Hesse, Germ ...

power station. In order not to kill anybody, he decided both to place the bomb in his locker and to set the timer so that the bomb would explode when the workplace would be empty. However, because of his political record, Iveton was closely watched and the bomb was found before it could explode. Iveton was arrested, tortured, and sentenced to death after a one-day trial. A group of lawyers attempted to get President

René Coty Jules Gustave René Coty (; 20 March 188222 November 1962) was President of France from 1954 to 1959. He was the second and last president of the Fourth French Republic. Early life and politics René Coty was born in Le Havre and studied at th ...

to commute the sentence, noting the fact that nobody had been killed or injured, or would have been killed or injured if the bomb had exploded. They failed, because of the press campaign that had been mounted against Iveton.

François Mitterrand François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he ...

, Minister of Justice in the Socialist led Government was in favor of the execution of Iveton. He was guillotined in the yard of

Barberousse ''Barberousse'' is a 1917 silent French film directed by Abel Gance. Cast * Léon Mathot as Trively * Émile Keppens as Gesmus * Maud Richard as Odette Trively * Germaine Pelisse as Pauline * Yvonne Briey * Henri Maillard * Doriani * Pau ...

prison in

on 11 February 1957. A short time later, his accomplices,

Jacqueline Jacqueline may refer to: People * Jacqueline (given name), including a list of people with the name * Jacqueline Moore (born 1964), ring name "Jacqueline", American professional wrestler Arts and entertainment * ''Jacqueline'' (1923 film), ...

and

Abdelkader Guerroudj Abdelkader Guerroudj (26 July 1928 – 7 November 2020), an Algerian, and his French wife, Jacqueline Guerroudj, were condemned to death in December 1957 as accomplices of Fernand Iveton, the only European who was guillotined for his part in the A ...

, were tried. He was a political officer who liaised between the

and the FLN, while she was a teacher, originally from

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of ...

in France. She had been given the task of handing the bomb materials to Iveton; on being given the assurance that no lives would be lost, she did so. The Guerroudjs were condemned to death but never executed, partly due to a campaign conducted by

Simone de Beauvoir Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, and even th ...

References

;Sources
The Iveton Affair
* Jean-Luc Einaudi, ''Pour l'exemple, l'affaire Fernand Iveton'', éditions L’Harmattan, Paris, 1986 {{DEFAULTSORT:Iveton, Fernand 1926 births 1957 deaths French communists Executed communists People from Algiers People of the Algerian War People executed by the French Fourth Republic People executed by France by decapitation Saboteurs French torture victims