(1918-11-07)7 November 1918 Saint-Paul-Cap-de-Joux, France
Died
3 December 2013(2013-12-03) (aged 95) Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines, France
Allegiance
France
Service/branch
French Army
Years of service
1941–1975
Rank
Brigadier General
Commands held
11e Choc 1er RCP
Battles/wars
World War II First Indochina War Algerian War
Paul Aussaresses (French:[pɔlosaʁɛs]; 7 November 1918 – 3 December 2013) was a French Army general, who fought during World War II, the First Indochina War and Algerian War. His actions during the Algerian War—and later defense of those actions—caused considerable controversy.[1]
Aussaresses joined the Free French Forces in North Africa during the Second World War. In 1947 he was given command of the 11th Shock Battalion, a commando unit that was part of France's former external intelligence agency, the External Documentation and Counter-Espionage Service, the SDECE (replaced by the Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure (DGSE)).
Aussaresses provoked controversy in 2000 when, in an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde, he admitted and defended the use of torture during the Algerian war. He repeated the defense in an interview with CBS's 60 Minutes, further arguing that torture ought to be used in the fight against Al-Qaeda, and again defended his use of torture during the Algerian War in a 2001 book; The Battle of the Casbah. In the aftermath of the controversy, he was stripped of his rank, the right to wear his army uniform and his Légion d'Honneur. A 2003 documentary revealed that, after moving to Brazil in 1973, Aussaresses had advised South American dictators on the use of torture widely used against leftist opponents to the military regimes in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile and Paraguay. Aussaresses also admitted to advising the CIA for the Americans' Vietnam era Phoenix Program, which utilized torture.
Aussaresses, recognizable by his eye patch, lost his left eye due to a botched cataract operation.[2]
^"BBC News - Algeria torture: French general Paul Aussaresses dies". BBC News. 4 December 2013. Retrieved 2013-12-04.
^French war crimes apologist from the Algerian independence war dies, by Thomas Adamson (Associated Press); in the Calgary Herald; published December 4, 2013; retrieved May 29, 2015 (via archive.org)
but also ordered by the French government, was confirmed by General PaulAussaresses in 2001. The civilian authorities relinquished control to the military...
experiences of occupation and their colonial mastery of Algeria." General PaulAussaresses admitted in 2000 that systematic torture techniques were used during...
troops on 24 September 1957 and eventually sentenced to death. General PaulAussaresses later asserted that while in custody, Yacef betrayed the FLN and the...
political enemies. It was also used during the Battle of Algiers by PaulAussaresses. In Latin America, death squads first appeared in Brazil where a group...
Mollet and Faure was recalled to France and arrested.: 180–1 General PaulAussaresses later stated that Teitgen's actions against Faure were widely resented...
that, under torture, he had given Audin's name to men working for PaulAussaresses, following threats that his wife would be raped. Audin was last seen...
re-emerge in the French press for decades to come (with the trial of PaulAussaresses). The character of Julien Boisfeuras in the novels The Centurions and...
about Zighoud's plans when one of General Aussaresses's informants, an Arab baker in Philippeville, told Aussaresses that he used to sell, on average, a sack...
Algerian nationalist and FLN leader Hanged by French Army officers under PaulAussaresses; his death was initially passed off as a suicide. March 23, 1957 Larbi...
Bigeard, Ben M'hidi was later killed while imprisoned by soldiers of PaulAussaresses. He went abroad in the name of the Liberation front and accomplished...
of United States Army Special Forces). Among French Jedburghs were PaulAussaresses, later founder of the SDECE's 11e RPC, and served in French Algeria;...
Montlouis to create the 11e bataillon parachutiste de choc. In July 1947, PaulAussaresses took over command of the battalion and started training his men in...
1954-1962: Strategy, Operations and Diplomacy (Routledge, 2013) General PaulAussaresses, The Battle of the Casbah: Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism in Algeria...
2012 – Janet Shaw, Australian cyclist and author (b. 1966) 2013 – PaulAussaresses, French general (b. 1918) 2013 – Reda Mahmoud Hafez Mohamed, Egyptian...
1957 23 March Algerian militant and lawyer El Biar French Algeria PaulAussaresses Maurice Audin 1957 11 June Algerian student Algiers French Algeria...
experiences of occupation and their colonial mastery of Algeria." General PaulAussaresses admitted in 2000 that systematic torture techniques were used during...
and hid the bodies. French general PaulAussaresses, a veteran of the Algerian War, came to Brazil in 1973. Aussaresses used "counter-revolutionary warfare"...
and underwent over a month of torture at the hands of commandant PaulAussaresses and his men. On March 23, in El Biar, outside Algiers, he was thrown...
2012. Retrieved 15 January 2009. In Services spéciaux en Algérie, PaulAussaresses mentions having been present during the arrest, but is not mentioned...
politician (d. 2006) 1917 – Titos Vandis, Greek actor (d. 2003) 1918 – PaulAussaresses, French general (d. 2013) 1918 – Billy Graham, American minister and...
Honeymooners (d. 2003) Cameron Mitchell, American actor (d. 1994) November 7 PaulAussaresses, French general (d. 2013) Billy Graham, American evangelist, spiritual...
Armed Forces were commanded by Jacques Massu, Buchond, Marcel Bigeard, PaulAussaresses. Other Legion offensives in the mountains in 1959 included operations...
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