Germaine Tillion had become increasingly disturbed by accounts of torture and public executions in Algeria that percolated through to her from the centres sociaux she had set up under Soustelle's administration. Consequently, reinforced by her own grim experiences of Ravensbrück, she had set to to organise a Commission Internationale contre le Régime Concentrationnaire en Algérie and, backed by a special dispensation from Prime Minister Mollet, she arrived with it in Algiers in June, just as Yacef's new bombing offensive was getting under way.

SEED: Tillion's arc from Nazi camp survivor to anti-torture advocate in Algeria offers a rich profile piece on moral continuity across colonial conflicts.

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 662