We have obtained an audio commentary for you from Prof Omar Kamil, who teaches history and politics at the University of Erfurt. 

Today, 75 years ago, the 8th of May 1945, was not only a joyous day of liberation from the Nazi regime – but the same day is also a sad occasion for remembrance.  

In Sétif, Guelma and Kherrata (Algeria), initially peaceful victory demonstrations took place 75 years ago, during which the Algerian national flag of today was waved and the call for ‘equality, independence and Algeria for the Arabs’ rang out. Contrary to its promise of independence at the end of the war, the colonial power of France bloodily crushed the Algerian people’s hopes for independence, killing up to 45,000 people. To this day, this event is little remembered and offers a discrepancy between so-called European and Arab history of remembrance. A day that must remind us not only of our fascist history, but also urgently of our colonial European history!