Jean-Jacques Susini (30 July 1933 – 3 July 2017) was a French political figure, militant and cofounder of the

Organisation armée secrète The ''Organisation Armée Secrète'' (OAS, "Secret Armed Organisation") was a far-right French dissident paramilitary organisation during the Algerian War. The OAS carried out terrorist attacks, including bombings and assassinations, in an atte ...

(OAS), a paramilitary organization opposing Algerian independence from France.

Life

Born in

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 d ...

French Algeria French Algeria (french: Alger to 1839, then afterwards; unofficially , ar, الجزائر المستعمرة), also known as Colonial Algeria, was the period of French colonisation of Algeria. French rule in the region began in 1830 with the ...

Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...

n parents. Susini became head of the student association there in 1959. In January 1960, he,

Pierre Lagaillarde Pierre Lagaillarde (; Courbevoie, 15 May 1931 – 17 August 2014) was a French politician, and a founder of the ''Organisation armée secrète'' (OAS). Lagaillarde was a lawyer at Blida in Algeria, a reserve officer of the paratroopers, and an el ...

and Joseph Ortiz were responsible for the ''journée des barricades'' ("day of the barricades") in Algiers. In 1960 he was detained at

La Santé Prison La Santé Prison (named after its location on the Rue de la Santé) (french: Maison d'arrêt de la Santé or ) is a prison operated by the French Prison Service of the Ministry of Justice located in the east of the Montparnasse district of the ...

in Paris. In the prison he was visited by

Jean-Marie Le Pen Jean Louis Marie Le Pen (, born 20 June 1928) is a French far-right politician who served as President of the National Front from 1972 to 2011. He also served as Honorary President of the National Front from 2011 to 2015. Le Pen graduated fro ...

. He took advantage of his parole to escape to Spain, with

, Jean-Maurice Demarquet, Marcel Ronda and Fernand Féral Lefevre, where he joined

Raoul Salan Raoul Albin Louis Salan (; 10 June 1899 – 3 July 1984) was a French Army general. He served as the fourth French commanding general during the First Indochina War. He was one of four retired generals who organized the 1961 Algiers Putsch op ...

and founded the OAS with him and Pierre Lagaillarde on 3 December 1960. He was responsible for psychological action and propaganda (APP). After the arrest of Raoul Salan in April 1962, Susini became the head of the OAS for

and Constantine. In June 1962, he brokered an (ultimately failed) agreement with the FLN. Beginning in 1962, Susini hid for five years in Italy under a false identity. During this time he was wanted in France for various attempts to assassinate

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Governm ...

(in particular the one of 15 August 1964, near the "Mont Faron" in

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

) and for his role in the OAS. He was twice condemned to death ''

in absentia is Latin for absence. , a legal term, is Latin for "in the absence" or "while absent". may also refer to: * Award in absentia * Declared death in absentia, or simply, death in absentia, legally declared death without a body * Election in ab ...

''. Susini benefited from an amnesty in 1968 by Charles de Gaulle, returning to France. In 1970, he was imprisoned for 16 months. In 1972 he was imprisoned again for two years. He was believed to have been responsible for the disappearance of colonel

Raymond Gorel Raymond is a male given name. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic ᚱᚨᚷᛁᚾᛗᚢᚾᛞ ( ...

, alias "Cimeterre", the former cashier of the OAS. Again, he benefited from an amnesty by the government by

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 ...

. He was a member of the far-right National Front and wrote a multivolume history of the OAS, the first volume of which covered the period from May to July 1961, has been published. Susini later ran unsuccessfully for office in

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

on the National Front ticket in the 1997 elections.

References

Sources

* Clément Steuer: ''Susini et l'OAS''. l'Harmattan, Paris 2004, * Henri Pouillot: ''La villa Susini. Tortures en Algerie''. Edition Tirésias, Paris 2001, * Jean-Jacques Susini: ''Histoire de l’O.A.S''. Edition de la Table Ronde, Paris 1963.
Rearguard Action for Terror
''Time'' magazine, 29 June 1962 {{DEFAULTSORT:Susini, Jean-Jacques 1933 births 2017 deaths People from Algiers Pieds-Noirs Members of the Organisation armée secrète National Rally (France) politicians People sentenced to death in absentia