The Maurice Audin Committee: Organising against torture

This article aims, by referring to private archives and interviews, at presenting the history of the Maurice Audin Committee. Born during the “Battle of Algiers” (1957), this committee became one of the main players in the anticolonial struggle in France. From the case of Maurice Audin’s disappearance, its members – mainly scholars – extend their denunciation to all the cases of torture and war violence committed by the French army in Algeria. An original militant organisation, the committee owes its long life to its solid insertion in anticolonial networks, in the university, the press and publishing. This article highlights the internal hierarchy of the committee and the division of tasks within it.