Noël Favrelière

Noël Favrelière, known as Nordine, born on May 11, 1934 in La Rochelle, is a painter who was a non-commissioned officer in the French army during the Algerian War, and who deserted in 1956. He then joined the ranks of the ALN fighters for ten months. He inspired many characters of objectors and resistance fighters, including the one in René Vautier's film "Avoir Vingt Ans Dans Les Aurès" (1972). He was part of the "Righteous of Algeria" who supported the Algerian people's fight for their independence. As a child, Noël Favrelière was marked by the Nazi Occupation and the Resistance fights during the Liberation, in September 1944. He lived in Paris, in artistic circles, then left to do his military service in Algeria, with his sketchbook that would accompany him throughout the Algerian period. Shocked by the conditions of treatment reserved for Muslim natives, he realized that the resistance fighters he had known as a child during the Second World War were now those in the opposing camp. He declared to his friends after 1954: "If I were Algerian, I would be a fellagha".