The Soldier of Koléa 1957–1959 93
been kept open for him thanks to the good offi ces of his father. ‘You
see, I’m really lucky and while I don’t pull any strings myself, I let
others do so my behalf, which isn’t much better.’^3 It was a ‘cushy
number’ that it would be ungrateful to complain about, especially
to Michel.
So, at the beginning of October, Jackie left with Marguerite to
take up his posting in Koléa, a small town some 38 kilometres to the
south-west of Algiers, on hills overlooking the plain of the Mitidja.
For just over two months, as a second-class soldier in civilian dress,
he taught the children of old Algerian soldiers, including quite a
number of orphans. Some pupils would join the resistance straight
after the troisième. In this École Militaire Préparatoire, Jackie and
Marguerite would lead a somewhat monotonous life, albeit one
which involved a lot of work for him. He had twelve hours of French
in the cinquième and quatrième years, to which he soon adapted, as
well as two hours of English in the troisième. Every Thursday, in
Algiers, he also gave two hours’ French to a small group of trainee
secretaries; he found these hours very tedious, but the wages were
suffi ciently good to pay for the room he and Marguerite rented
in a villa in Koléa. When one reckons in the need to mark work,
the administrative tasks, the translations of newspaper articles for
the general government, and even running the school’s football,
it is easy to understand why he felt he had never had less time for
himself.
In material terms, the school worked very well and allowed Jackie
and Marguerite to enjoy the life of village schoolteachers. Other
aspects were less pleasant, as Derrida explained to Michel Monory:
The children are likeable, friendly and vivacious, I never get
bored in class and always start in a good mood, but contact
with the staff , both military and civilian, is really diffi cult, and
sometimes unbearable. The two hours of mealtime in the mess
and the class councils are torture.^4Derrida’s situation was of course less diffi cult than that of many
others – fi rst and foremost, Michel, whose strenuous period of
service ended only in December 1957 –, but life in Koléa was all the
same far from easy. Marguerite can still remember the battles that
took place nearby:
At night-time, it was a real war. We could regularly hear
gunfi re. Horrible things happened. One evening, an FLN leader
was executed; they then dragged him into the Kasbah, his neck
tied to a jeep, before leaving the body outside a mosque. They
were probably trying to intimidate the Algerians, but of course
this kind of provocation merely stoked their hatred. To crown