The name “Red Hand” was already familiar to French authorities. In the early 1950s, an ultra-nationalist terrorist organization by that name had operated in Morocco and Tunisia. As these French colonies moved toward independence, the Red Hand struck violently against self-determination leaders, leaving their signature on each attack: a hand of Fatima—a popular amulet in Maghreb countries—painted in blood red on victims’ doors.

When Morocco and Tunisia gained independence in March 1956, the Red Hand seemingly disappeared. But its return with renewed vengeance against the Algerian independence movement suggested something more sinister at play.

Unmasking the Conspiracy

By the mid-1980s, authors Roger Faligot and Pascal Krop unveiled a shocking revelation: the “Red Hand” was actually a façade. Christian Durieux was an agent of the DST, France’s internal security service. The writer Pierre Geneve was actually Kurt-Emile Schweizer, better known as an author of erotic fiction.

Both men had been instructed to publicize the Red Hand by Colonel Marcel Mercier, a former resistance fighter and Dachau concentration camp survivor who worked for the SDECE, France’s foreign intelligence and counter-espionage service. Mercier collaborated closely with Colonel Robert Roussillat, head of Service 8, a special division responsible for covert operations.

The implications were staggering: high-ranking officers of France’s secret services were directly implicated in hundreds of targeted assassinations and state-sponsored terrorism. The Red Hand was merely smoke and mirrors designed to throw public opinion off the scent.

https://intotheshadows.channel/war/red-hand-conspiracy-france-secret-assassinations-algerian-war/