Annie Steiner
Annie Steiner (born 7 February 1928) in Hadjout, Algeria, is an Algerian activist and member of the FLN.
Life Before the Algerian War[edit]
An Algerian of European (Pied-Noir) origin, Annie Steiner was born in the village of Hadjout (ex-Marengo) in the Algiers region. Her grandfather was a European settler , who moved to Algeria from Italy in 1870 while her mother was of French origin,[1] Steiner trained as a lawyer and in 1951 married a Swiss acrchitect, Rudolf Steiner with whom she would have two children.[2]
Steiner claims to have always felt isolated from the narrow-mindedness of the settler population.[1]
Algerian War[edit]
When the Algerian War broke out on November 1 1954, Steiner was working in the Central Library of the Social Centres.[3] The Social Centres were part of social work project set up by the ethnologist and former French Resistance activist Germaine Tillion to provide education, healthcare and welfare to the Algerian population.[1] Steiner credits the close contact she had with poor Algerians with winning over to the cause of the FLN.[4] Although she was increasingly politicized, she was not a member of any political party in this period.[5]
She joined the Algiers branch of FLN, playing an important role in facilitating an agreement between the organisation and the Algerian Communist Party in 1956.[6] Steiner was not involved in the planting of bombs, but she did carry messages and instructions about the manufacture of explosives during the Battle of Algiers (1956–57).[7]
Arrested on October 15 1956, Steiner was sentenced in March 1957 by a military tribunal to five years imprisonment for aiding the FLN.[2] Steiner paid a high personal cost for her involvement in the struggle; her marriage broke down and she was separated from her two children.[2]
Steiner describes the prison a school of revolution, where she and the other incarcerated activists 'continued the struggle inside the prison walls'. Steiner served her sentence in six different prisons, both in Algeria and in France, most famously serving time in Barberousse Prison.[2] While in prison, she was involved in hunger strikes, she heard the execution of activists Fernand Iveton, Mohammed Ouennouri et Mohamed Lakhnèche and she served lengthy periods in solitary confinement and in maximum security disciplinary prison.[8]
Steiner was released in 1961 and, after a failed attempt to secure custody of her two daughters in Switzerland, returned to Algeria in 1962.[6]
Life in Post-Independence Algeria[edit]
When Steiner returned to Algeria in October 1962, she was penniless and had to rely and the support of two of her former comrades-in-arms.[2] She participated in the creation of the General Secretariat of the Government that vetted and published laws for the new independent Algerian State.[9] Steiner maintained her position in this important department through the Presidencies of Ahmed Ben Bella, Houari Boumédiène and Chadli Bendjedid, exercising some influence over the legal order of the new Algerian state.[9]
Steiner was a vocal opponent of the regressive Algerian Family Code and spoke out with other female veterans of the War of Independence against efforts to limit the role of women in public life.[10]
She featured prominently in the 1985 documentary Barberousse, mes soeurs alongside other female veterans of the War of Independence.[11]
See Also[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Vince, Natalya (2015). Our Fighting Sisters: Memory and Gender in Algeria 1954-2012. Manchester University Press. p. 50. Search this book on
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 "Qui est Annie Steiner?".
- ↑ Drew, Alison. We Are No Longer in France: Communists in Colonial Algeria. Manchester University Press. Search this book on
- ↑ Our Fighting Sisters. p. 51. Search this book on
- ↑ Amrane, Djamila. Des femmes dans la Guerre d'Algérie: Entretiens. Karthala. p. 198. Search this book on
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Mustapha Boutadjine | ANNIE FIORIO-STEINER" (in français). Retrieved 2019-02-28.
- ↑ Ameyar, Hafida (2001). La Moudjahida Annie Fiorio-Steiner. Une vie pour l’Algérie. Algiers: L’association des amis de Abdelhamid Benzine. p. 38. Search this book on
- ↑ Ameyar. La Moudjahida Annie Fiorio Steiner. pp. 58, 93-94. Search this book on
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Our Fighting Sisters,. p. 186. Search this book on
- ↑ Lalami, Feriel (2012). Les Algériennes contre le code de la famille: La lutte pour l'égalité. Paris: Sciences Po. pp. Passim. Search this book on
- ↑ Our Fighting Sisters. p. 226. Search this book on
External links[edit]
- Fiorio Steiner, une rebelle préférant l’ombre à la lumière, El Wotan, 8 mars 2008
This article "Annie Steiner" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Annie Steiner. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
