The Favorite Hotel of Algerians !

The Carlton, a History of Militancy

The ties between the Carlton and Algeria are strong. 32 years ago, Messaoud Ben Smail, an ordinary Djerbian and anonymous Tunisian hero of Algerian independence, passed away. He also became the owner of the Carlton in 1959.

Messaoud Ben Smail started as an apprentice grocer in Algeria. In 1930, he took the lead to become a maallem, opening "La Grande Épicerie" at the Constantine market.

In the mid-1940s, after the war, he settled in Annaba (Bône), in eastern Algeria. His grocery store, "Le Palais," engaged in wholesale and retail trade.

Messaoud Ben Smail witnessed the awakening of Algerian nationalist protest. From the early 1950s, he established solid contacts with members of Bourguiba's clandestine Neo Destour.

Settled in Bône, Messaoud was a valuable transmission belt with FLN members.

Behind the scenes, the Bône grocery store had a completely different role; it would be a place of resistance for the FLN. Militants spent the night there, in the back room, with apprentices.

In the spring of 1961, tension was palpable. The FLN multiplied resistance operations, and the grocery store was the subject of more than one provocation. "Go back to your Bourguiba!" young colonists in gray smocks shouted.

Messaoud had good relations with the local prefect. He would warn him in advance of the reprisals being prepared against him.

Messaoud left Algeria without suspecting that his store would be, in his absence, the prey of the most significant attack ever committed in Algeria! A huge incendiary charge destroyed the premises: four dead, including a 15-year-old apprentice, all Djerbians, all relatives or close. The OAS had struck.

Shocked by this tragedy, he moved to Tunis, where he had just acquired one of the oldest hotels in the capital, the "Carlton," which became, from then until the independence of Algeria in 1962, the meeting place for militants and executives of the FLN in Tunis.

For a long time, the "Carlton" remained the favorite hotel of Algerians. After Messaoud Ben Smail, his grandson, Ridha Boubekri, ran the hotel for years. His father delivered packages to the FLN in Bône.

Upon retirement, it would be the turn of another grandson of Messaoud, son of Mohamed ben Smail, the "journalist fellaga," to take over.

On the night of 01/14/2011, the Carlton hotel would protect more than 170 Tunisian protesters from the police, regaining its place as a "militant" hotel for freedom.