José Aboulker
Encyclopedia
José Aboulker was a member of the anti-Nazi resistance who co-founded a resistance network in Algiers
Algiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...
in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and emerged as one of the main leaders of the resistance movement in North Africa. After the war he became a neurosurgeon and emerged as a political figure in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
Early life
He was born in the Algerian capital Algiers into a Jewish family. His name comes from Sephardi Jews in North Africa, an Arabic name meaning literally, "the father of the happy ones, of the well," or more simply, "happy man". The Arabic form is from 'abû-'al-khayr; the variant spelling is "Albulker". His father, Henri Aboulker, was a surgeon and professor in the Faculty of Medicine in Algiers. His mother, Berthe Aboulker, was an woman of letters.A medical student at the outbreak of World War II, Aboulker was mobilized in April 1940 as an officer cadet. He was demobilized in February 1941.
Algerian Resistance
In September 1940, Aboulker founded a resistance network in Algiers, in partnership with his cousin Roger CarcassonneRoger Carcassonne
Roger Carcassonne-Leduc , was a member of the French Resistance.A French industrialist in Oran, he served as a second lieutenant with the 8th Regiment...
who had done the same at Oran
Oran
Oran is a major city on the northwestern Mediterranean coast of Algeria, and the second largest city of the country.It is the capital of the Oran Province . The city has a population of 759,645 , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately 1,500,000, making it the second largest...
, and Aboulker subsequently became one of the main leaders of the Algerian resistance movement. The two cousins met Henri d'Astier de la Vigerie
Henri d'Astier de la Vigerie
Henri d'Astier de La Vigerie was a French soldier, Résistance member, and conservative politician.-Life:Henri d'Astier was born in Villedieu-sur-Indre, a small village in the Indre département of central France...
, with whom they prepared to support the expected Allied landings in North Africa
Operation Torch
Operation Torch was the British-American invasion of French North Africa in World War II during the North African Campaign, started on 8 November 1942....
, in collaboration with Colonel Germain Jousse
Germain Jousse
Germain Jousse , was a member of the French Resistance during the Second World War.-World War I:...
and the U.S. Consul Robert Murphy
Robert Murphy
Robert Murphy or Bob Murphy is the name of:In sports:*Irish Bob Murphy , American light heavyweight boxer*Bob Murphy , American sports announcer...
, President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
's representative in Algiers. The headquarters for the preparation were at his father's house at 26 Rue Michelet.
On October 23, 1942, Aboulker was among the Algerian resistance leaders who met with General Mark Clark in Morocco. The Americans agreed to supply weapons and radios, which were landed on November 5. On the night of the Allied landings in North Africa, November 8, 1942, Aboulker led the occupation of the main strategic points in Algiers by 400 members of the Resistance, seizing the central police station, with his deputy Bernard Karsenty and the help of Guy Calvet and Superintendent Achiary.
Led by their group leaders, all of the Resistance fighters, with the exception of the reserve officers, neutralized the command centers, occupied strategic positions, and stopped the military officials and civilian supporters of the Vichy
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
government, starting with General Alphonse Juin
Alphonse Juin
- Early years :Juin was born at Bône in French Algeria, and enlisted in the French Army, graduating from the École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr in 1912.- Career :...
, the Commander-in-chief, and Admiral François Darlan
François Darlan
Jean Louis Xavier François Darlan was a French naval officer. His great-grandfather was killed at the Battle of Trafalgar...
.
In the morning, when the XIXth Army Corps of the Vichy Government tried to mobilize to oppose the Allied landings, it had to concentrate its efforts on the Resistance fighters rather than Allied forces. With the landings around Algiers having been completed, Aboulker--anxious not to spill French blood--asked the group leaders to evacuate their positions. Using Resistance fighters from the evacuated positions, he organized with the group leader Captain Pillafort barricades to hinder the mobilization of the Vichy military. As a result, the forces of the Vichy government did not attack by that evening the central police station, the last place with insurgents. The confusion created by the so-called “putsch” of 8 November 1942 helped the Allies land almost without opposition and then encircle Algiers. Admiral Darlan surrendered Algiers that afternoon, and Allied troops entered the city at 8 pm.
On December 24, 1942, Darlan, who had named himself High Commissioner and maintained Vichy policies with the support of General Henri Giraud
Henri Giraud
Henri Honoré Giraud was a French general who fought in World War I and World War II. Captured in both wars, he escaped each time....
, was killed by a 20-year-old monarchist, Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle
Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle
Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle, was a member of the French resistance who assassinated Admiral of the Fleet François Darlan, the former chief of government of Vichy France and the self-proclaimed high commissioner of French North Africa and West Africa, on December 24, 1942...
, who was executed on December 26. Giraud succeeded Darlan and ordered the arrest of Aboulker and 26 other Resistance leaders for complicity in Darlan's assassination, and they were immediately deported to prison camps in southern Algeria.
Metropolitan Resistance
Freed following the Casablanca Conference in 1943 (also called the “Anfa Conference”), Aboulker returned to LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in May 1943 and joined the Free French.
In October of that year, he was sent secretly into occupied France, as someone “responsible for the organization of the health service of the Resistance movement”, preparing for the Liberation. There, he led operations parachuting surgical equipment into France.
Back in London in June 1944, he returned to Algiers, where he had his medical school viva.
In August 1944, he left for a new mission in the south of France, to install prefects at Toulouse, Limoges, and Clermont-Ferrand.
Peacetime
Aboulker was the representative of the Algerian Resistance at the Provisional Consultative Assembly at Paris from 1944 to 1945, and he proposed changing the electoral law in Algeria to allow the election of native Muslim deputies, who had never previously been admitted. The proposal was adopted.After the war, Aboulker joined the French Communist Party
French Communist Party
The French Communist Party is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism.Although its electoral support has declined in recent decades, the PCF retains a large membership, behind only that of the Union for a Popular Movement , and considerable influence in French...
, and in 1946 he resumed his medical studies. He passed the internal examinations at the Hospital of Paris and finally became a professor of neurosurgery
Neurosurgery
Neurosurgery is the medical specialty concerned with the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spine, spinal cord, peripheral nerves, and extra-cranial cerebrovascular system.-In the United States:In...
.
He committed himself to Algerian independence and opposed the return of General Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
as head of the French government in 1958. Taking into account the General’s role in dismantling the French empire, including Algeria, Aboulker voted in 1965 for his reelection as President of the Republic. He belonged to the emergency medical service set up for the president of the Republic following the assassination attempt made at Le Petit-Clamart. He has been a member of the Liberation Council since June 1999.
Decorations
- Commander of the Légion d'honneurLégion d'honneurThe Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
- Companion of the LiberationOrdre de la LibérationThe Ordre de la Libération is a French Order awarded to heroes of the Liberation of France during World War II. It is an exceptional honor, the second highest after the Légion d’Honneur and only a small number of people and military units have received it, exclusively for deeds accomplished...
- Croix de guerre 1939-1945Croix de guerre 1939-1945 (France)The Croix de guerre 1939–1945 is a French military decoration created on September 26, 1939, to honour people who fought with the Allies against the Axis force at any time during World War II.-Recipients:...
(3 citations) - U.S. Medal of FreedomPresidential Medal of FreedomThe Presidential Medal of Freedom is an award bestowed by the President of the United States and is—along with thecomparable Congressional Gold Medal bestowed by an act of U.S. Congress—the highest civilian award in the United States...