Pierre Chaulet

Biography

Pierre Chaulet, born March 27, 1930 in Algiers and died October 5, 2012 in Montpellier, is an Algerian doctor of French origin, moudjahid (official title of any person, Algerian or foreign, who fought during the Algerian Revolution against colonialism ) during the Algerian War alongside the FLN. He carried out secret operations with FLN fighters under the orders of Abane Ramdane. Pierre Chaulet comes from a family whose grandparents on his mother's side arrived in Algeria, in Skikda, after being ruined by the phylloxera crisis, and on his father's side in Hussein Dey where his grandfather was a blacksmith. Pierre did not spend time with Arab children throughout his schooling since he completed his primary and secondary studies in a private Jesuit school. The awareness of Algerian nationalism during his university years was for him the most important element with regard to his relationship to the Algerian war. This is what made him become aware of social inequalities and embrace the Algerian cause. In the international geopolitical context of the time, thus testifying to the evolution of the colonial world, he believes that the insurrection of the Algerian people of 1954 was logical from a historical point of view and that it involved choosing one's side (independence). or colonialism). Pierre Chaulet also explains this insurrection by the numerous inequalities striking the Algerian people (double college, vote for a specific status for Algeria), the press and political speeches (François Mitterrand and Jacques Chevallier) diverted and censored the real causes of the insurrection. Following his political activities, he was arrested and expelled from Algerian territory. He managed to join, with his wife Claudine, the FLN in Tunisia where he continued his resistance activities as a doctor and wrote in the FLN newspaper, El Moudjahid. He met Frantz Fanon at the psychiatric hospital of Blida in 1955. "In February 1955, Abane Ramdane came to ask me to find a psychiatrist to follow the case of the mujahideen who risked speaking under torture. And it was From there I knew Frantz Fanon, who also housed patients at the Blida hospital." After Algeria's independence in 1962, Chaulet joined the Mustapha Pasha hospital. He contributed to the eradication of tuberculosis in Algeria with his faculty friend Jeanine Belkhodja. Claudine Chaulet, for her part, became a professor of sociology at the University of Algiers. He and his wife Claudine wrote their memoirs: “The Choice of Algeria: two voices, one memory”, released in 2012 by Barzakh. Pierre Chaulet died on October 5, 2012 at the age of 82 in Montpellier, repatriated he will be buried in Algiers in accordance with his wishes. His wife, Claudine died on October 29, 2015 in Algiers at the age of 84. The Algiers burn clinic is named after Pierre and Claudine Chaulet in their honor.