Pierre Chaulet

In some respects, Pierre Chaulet led the life of a typical young doctor after moving to Tunisia in the late 1950s. He was senior doctor for pneumophthisiology in the hospitals of Tunis, and he worked closely with the Tunisian public health authority.

But there was another side of his life in Tunisia that was not typical. Chaulet, a French citizen born in Algiers of French parents, was an active supporter of the National Liberation Front (FLN), which in 1954 had started a guerrilla war to drive France out of Algeria and win independence. As an FLN supporter, Chaulet often travelled to the Algerian border to care for Algerian rebels wounded in battles with French soldiers. In the eyes of the French government, the doctor was also a rebel.

In addition to his medical contributions for the cause, Chaulet was in close contact with the FLN’s exiled leadership, who were directing the war against France from Tunis. He also worked as a journalist writing articles for El Moudjahid, the FLN newspaper, and in …