Archives, politics and society. The case of the Algerian War of Independence

On December 10, 2021, the Minister of Culture announced the early opening of the archives “on the judicial investigations […] related to the Algerian War”. Since 2018, access to the archives of the Algerian War of Independence has been publicly debated. While on September 13^th 2018, general access to archives related to those missing from the war ( “disparus”) was granted in a presidential statement, consultation of classified documents was submitted to a specific procedure – which has been widely denounced. These paradoxical decisions – claims of open access on the one hand, concrete restrictions on the other – reveal the tension surrounding access to the archives of the Algerian War of Independence. Never fully open nor fully closed, the archives are actually accessible under conditions which change over time, and depend on the interpretation and the enforcement of the law. After an analysis of said laws and regulations, this article identifies the issues around the announcement of the general opening of the archives and concludes on the most recent changes.