Yacef Saadi

Biography

Yacef Saadi was born on January 20, 1928, in the Casbah of Algiers — the ancient Arab and Berber quarter of the capital city that would become the theater of his greatest battles. The son of a baker, he grew up in the labyrinthine alleyways of the Casbah, learning its geography with the intimacy of a native. He became a baker himself before joining the FLN at the start of the war, quickly rising due to his organizational abilities and his intimate knowledge of the Casbah's geography. Appointed head of the FLN's Autonomous Zone of Algiers in 1956, Yacef Saadi built a clandestine network that included bomb-making cells, weapons caches, and a system of safe houses honeycombed throughout the Casbah. He organized the FLN's bombing campaign in European Algiers — targeting cafés, stadiums, and public spaces where Europeans gathered — and recruited the young women who carried bombs in their handbags past French checkpoints, a tactic later dramatized in Gillo Pontecorvo's 1966 film. He worked closely with Ali la Pointe, his most trusted field commander. Yacef Saadi directed the urban guerrilla campaign for most of 1957 before the French 10th Parachute Division systematically dismantled his network through mass arrests and torture. He was captured in September 1957, hiding in a secret room in the Casbah with a young female aide. Sentenced to death, his sentence was later commuted; he was released after Algerian independence. He went on to produce the film 'The Battle of Algiers,' playing himself, and later entered Algerian politics, serving in the Senate until old age.

Key Battles