| Bloody Sunday | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | 22 August 1926 | ||
| Location | Colmar, Alsace, France | ||
| Caused by | French government's condemnation of Alsatian autonomy | ||
| Goals | Alsatian autonomy | ||
| Parties to the civil conflict | |||
| |||
| Lead figures | |||
| Casualties | |||
| Injuries | 60+ | ||
Bloody Sunday is a name given to political clashes that occurred in Colmar, Alsace, France on August 22, 1926. On that day the French Communist Party and the Colmar section of the Popular Republican Union (a Catholic organization) had organized a joint protest meeting at the Salle des Catherinettes. The theme of the meeting was to denounce measures by the French state against the signatories of the Alsatian autonomist Heimatbund manifesto. [1] [2]
Colmar is the third-largest commune of the Alsace region in north-eastern France. It is the seat of the prefecture of the Haut-Rhin department and the arrondissement of Colmar-Ribeauvillé.
Alsace is a cultural and historical region in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland.
France, officially the French Republic, is a country whose territory consists of metropolitan France in Western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The metropolitan area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. It is bordered by Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany to the northeast, Switzerland and Italy to the east, and Andorra and Spain to the south. The overseas territories include French Guiana in South America and several islands in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. The country's 18 integral regions span a combined area of 643,801 square kilometres (248,573 sq mi) and a total population of 67.3 million. France, a sovereign state, is a unitary semi-presidential republic with its capital in Paris, the country's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Other major urban areas include Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Lille and Nice.
However, a large group of French nationalists had assembled at the meeting point of the rally. They included the royalist Camelots du Roi and Action française . The French nationalists sought to blockade the Alsatian autonomists from holding their meeting. As Dr. Eugène Ricklin, a clerical autonomist and one of the main speakers of the event, and Joseph Rossé, reached the Colmar train station, they were attacked by the French nationalists. At the site of the meeting, violent clashes erupted again. Police, partly mounted, slowly intervened. Around 60 people were injured. Amongst the injured was Ricklin. However, the autonomist rally was conducted despite the violence. [1] [2] [3]
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of government, but not necessarily a particular monarch. Most often, the term royalist is applied to a supporter of a current regime or one that has been recently overthrown to form a republic.
The King's Camelots, officially the National Federation of the King's Camelots was a far-right youth organization of the French militant royalist and integralist movement Action Française active from 1908 to 1936. It is best known for taking part in many right-wing demonstrations in France in the 1920s and 1930s.
Doctor Eugène Ricklin was a popular Alsatian politician known for his fiery opposition both to German and French assimilationist policies in Alsace.
The Bloody Sunday rally was significant in breaking up the taboo of cooperation between communists and Catholic autonomists. [3] It also marked the starting point of a split between a section of Alsatian communists and the French Communist Party. [1] Bloody Sunday furthered cooperation between Alsatian communists with right-wing sectors sharing common autonomist goals, which would eventually lead to the expulsion of a sector of Alsatian communists from the French Communist Party in 1929. The expellees founded the Opposition Communist Party of Alsace-Lorraine. [1]
The Alsatian Workers and Peasants Party, initially the Opposition Communist Party of Alsace-Lorraine, was a political party in Alsace-Lorraine. The party was led by Jean-Pierre Mourer and Charles Hueber. The party was founded in late October 1929. The party was a member of the International Communist Opposition, but was expelled from the organization in 1934 and gradually moved towards pro-Nazi positions.
