Concept
Ahmed Mahsas (November 17, 1923 – February 24, 2013) was an Algerian militant in the nationalist movement against French Algeria. Ahmed Mahsas was born on 17 November 1923 in Boudouaou, Kabylia (now Boumerdès). He grew up in the wooded and mountainous region of the Col des Beni Aïcha. His family is from the village of Mahsas near Tidjelabine and the Zawiyet Sidi Boumerdassi. His parents settled in Boudouaou at the start of the 20th century. Algerian nationalism Mahsas was an early independence activist, and joined the Algerian People's Party (PPA) in Boudouaou in 1940 when he was 16. He was arrested by French authorities for the first time in 1941 with Mohamed Belouizdad for his actions within the PPA in the Belcourt (Belouizdad) district of Algiers. He became a militant in Algiers within organizations related to the PPA, such as the Central Youth Committee of Grand Paris (Comité central jeune du grand Paris) (CCJGA) and the Youth Committee of Belcourt (Comité de la jeunesse de Belcourt) (CJB). Mahsas was imprisoned several times for his militant activities and had important responsibilities within the PPA where he was a member of the Central Committee and the Organizing Committee. He also participated in organizational work at the territorial and national levels. Mahsas was drafted during World War II to serve under France between 1944 and 1945, but he refused to join the colonial French army. As a result, he was arrested in 1949 and sentenced by the court. He was appointed as the head of wilaya (administration district) Constantine and member of the organizing committee of the PPA. Special Organisation (Algeria) In 1947, Mahsas was one of the founders of the Special Organization (OS) of which he was a national staff member with Belouizdad. When OS was dismantled by the French police in 1950, he was second-in-command. Mahsas was arrested in 1950 when OS was dismantled, and was held in a prison in Blida along with other nationalist activists of the Movement for the Triumph of Democratic Liberties (MTLD).