Memoirs of a child of the past century - 15. Chapter 15: Algeria and others

We were in the early 70s. Algeria, independent since 1962, was keen to develop its infrastructure and attracted many experts for economic and industrial surveys. One such expert, well connected with the Algerian authorities as the brother-in- law of my friend, who had assisted me in creating my engineering company.

Naturally, this expert, George K., came to me and asked me to get in touch with the Algerian authorities, to investigate the possibility of forming an Algerian-Swiss engineering and plant construction company. I didn’t hesitate for one second, although being Jewish could have been a barrier. Algeria was one of the countries who were 'enemies' of Israel, and I saw some difficulties in being accepted as a valid interlocutor. George K. encouraged me to still take the initiative and introduced me to Selim Ben Sassi, the ‘cultural attaché’ of the Embassy of Algeria to the United Nations in Geneva.

I later learned that he was the head of the Algerian secret services, responsible for intelligence and actions in Switzerland and France, which I did not know when I met him for the first time. When I told him I was Jewish, he laughed. "But my dear sir, we have made our enquiries and ‘investigated’ you. Your personal opinion and your faith have nothing to do with it! You are not a militant Zionist, and that's all that interests us. "

What the Algerians wanted was to take advantage of 'the know how' of European engineers and architects to creating a large company, with the permanent settlement of management and executives at Oran in western Algeria . They wanted to use me to help them to build an Algerian company 'of mixed economy', half-private half-state, the Algerian State holding the majority.

I realized very quickly that this task was too big for me. We talked all evening Aldo and me (Aldo, you will recall, was the president of the CET, the Community for Engineering Studies) and we came to the conclusion that even the CET was too small. The solution was to contact other Swiss engineers and architects, as well as further French and German companies similar to the CET.

Aldo took over and became the leader of the Europeans. I was too busy with my film business to be anything other than his assistant. Ben Sassi, however, insisted that I should stay in the race and be later responsible for a particular area of Algeria Development: organizing and managing places of study in Swiss technical schools for Algerian students, , destined to become senior engineers and future executives of the Algerian company .

We looked for different groups of engineers and architects from Switzerland, France and Germany to constitute a valid partner of the SNERI, the National Society for Studies and Industrial Projects, the company of the Algerian State in charge of implementation of this collaboration. All this appears today as very complicated, but Algeria at that time was just emerging from a war of independence and negotiations with the Algerian government was still very unpopular in Europe.

On the other hand, account had to be taken of the decay of the Algerian organization. One example among many others: phone calls. The last telephone directory available was from 1962. Impossible to find the phone number of the ones you wanted to to reach. Everyone had to sort it out himself such as holding his own address book and trying to collect all the numbers that he might need.

Another problem was the lack of technical knowledge of the Algerians. An example: Italy had sent to Algeria as a development aid different machinery (concrete mixing plant, tractors and other). We discovered a number of these machines abandoned and incapable of functioning. Algerian constructors ignored the need to lubricate these machines, forgot to put oil in their motors and used them until broke down!
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Engineers and architects interested in working in Algeria therefore banded together in a new Swiss company FRISA Ltd, [sharedmedia=gallery:images:6503] which moved to Epalinges in the building of the CET. The partners of FRISA, 23 independent firms with more than 840 employees, thus had enough employees to participate in the creation of SOMERI, 'the Joint Company for Studies and Industrial Projects,' whose capital was divided between SNERI for 70% and 30% for FRISA.

I have known the chairman of SOMERI, Mourad Medelci, well. He is an engineer trained in France and very close to the President of Algeria Houari Boumediene, Algeria's dictator from 1965 until his death in 1978. Medelci is now foreign minister of Algeria. This shows the importance of the collaboration with the Swiss engineers. During my frequent trips to Oran I spent many hours with him, discussing the differences in mentality between the Algerians and French politicians and the assistance provided by Switzerland during the Evian Accords giving independence to Algeria.

I don't know how ‘he learned of it, but he knew my political 'left' opinions and he attached great importance to my participation in 'the Algerian-Swiss adventure. From him I learned that our friend Ben Sassi now part of SOMERI and responsible for 'administrative' problems was in fact the 'political commissar' of SOMERI, in direct contact with President Boumedienne.

Whenever we had problems with local authorities in Oran for all sorts of practical problems (housing, conflicts with imams, work permits for the Swiss engineers etc.), I was able to call him and the difficulties were resolved by a simple phone call. There are still some advantages to living in a dictatorship!

One example among many: SOMERI employed more than 70 Swiss engineers and architects The nearest Swiss consular representation was in Algiers, which was not very convenient for us. Thanks to Ben Sassi, we could open our own Swiss consulate in Oran, held by one of our engineers. It greatly simplified the contacts between Switzerland and Algeria, as we no longer needed to move to Algiers for all the paperwork (visa work permit etc.).

Even today I remember with pleasure my frequent journeys to Oran, the beauty of landscapes, the mild climate, the beaches in the sunshine, the hospitality of the locals and the delicious meals in small restaurants along the sea. not to mention the beauty of boys and girls encountered on the beaches. As in all countries of the 'Koran', homosexuality is severely repressed in Algeria. Therefore I contented myself to admire in silence.

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To succeed, any action must have a leader, assisted by an efficient management team. Aldo R. (see chapter 13) moved to Oran with his family and was our leader in the Algerian operation. To assist him, a partner of GREPAL, Jean-Pierre H, a graduate of Business Sciences, moved to Oran and became my connection with Ben Sassi.

In the mind of the Algerians, the 'operation SOMERI ' was largely intended to ensure succession of the Swiss technical staff by Algerian engineers and architects. For this purpose, GREPAL was responsible for establishing and managing the formation in Switzerland of Algerian senior engineers. This mission had two parts: the selection of young students in Oran and their monitoring during their studies in Switzerland. I personally took charge of the first part and the second was entrusted to René S., one of of my associates.

The task was to select 150 students with the objective of choosing best to fit the requirements of the swiss of Swiss technical schools and the needs Each elected student would be supported by the government, all travel, subsistence and study paid, but in exchange would make his year of military service at SOMERI and then stay there for 4 years. A real situation as in the Soviet Union!

My training in industrial psychology (see previous chapters) allowed me make a choice from hundreds of files but without regard to political criteria. I still remember an argument with Ben Sassi. I was on the first floor of the building with hundreds of files spread out before me for final selection. Down in the garden in front of the building, all the staff of SOMERI, Algerians and Europeans, with some of the students who had joined us for a final interview selection had gathered for a Méchoui, a whole sheep lamb gold spit roasted barbecue . Sassi Ben picked me up and told me he had already made a first selection based on political criteria and that my intervention was only for show. I was deeply offended and our friendship took a heavy blow!

As I said before, Rene S. was responsible for finding places in technical colleges of Western Switzerland, to find housing for students, to ensure their good behavior (many of them apparently knew not the use of condoms and laid their Swiss girlfriends pregnant) . We had also some to be sent back to Algeria after brawls in nightclubs and police intervention!

Finally nearly 120 were successful for their final exams and almost all returned to Algeria, with the exception of a few whose we lost control and slipped away to France to escape their Algerian obligations. It really was not an easy job but Rene had an excellent contact with them and still managed to make a few friends among them.

My personal contacts with Algeria stopped there. I had ‘other fish to fry'. Jean-Pierre H. S. and Rene continued to participate in the operation SOMERI, the one in Algeria, and the other in Switzerland until the bankruptcy of GREPAL (see next section!).

After 1978 Aldo R. and Ben Sassi returned to Switzerland. I vaguely remember that they went up together with a commercial transaction between Algeria and Gabon with brokerage commissions (in other words bribes) paid in Switzerland. But because my financial problems neither one nor the other had no longer any interest in working with me and we lost touch.

SOMERI was not the only activity of GREPAL. From 1970 to 1978, assisted mostly by Robert D. , another of my shareholders, I fought to expand my company with gratifying results. I resume for instance the accounts for the year 1972: a turnover of more than 950,000 Swiss francs (more than 1,200,000 US $ today).

The company had moved into a second building constructed in Epalinges by the CET and its eight employees occupied an entire floor. Our activities extended to all sorts of areas: studies of regional planning, construction of factories and residential buildings, organization of specialized courses in planning and management of building projects, project studies of hospitals.

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In the meantime, I had met again an old childhood friend, George P., who had become a banker and was looking for attractive real estate investments. I presented him different investment opportunities and he agreed to finance some of them. Robert D. drew his attention and mine to a small clinic which we bought together, to turn it into a establishment specialized in reconstructive surgery. Thus, with the help of well known surgeons, the clinic could treat many young people of Palestine and Lebanon, wounded during the fights and bombings in these countries.

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The Algerian experience led us to prospect in Africa and Asia. We prepared numerous offers to Senegal, Saudi Arabia and Japan, but without success. Each time it was necessary to provide substantial financial guarantee or to have at our disposal enough cash to 'grease the palms' of intermediaries.

We had neither the resources needed for the one or for the other.As for my friend the financier, he refused to run these risks.

One day I met a sales engineer who was looking for a partner on behalf of a group of management experts, had deserted a French company in financial difficulties and were eager to start a new company of the same kind, both located in France and Switzerland. Always eager for new adventures, I allowed myself to try to take them as partners (I still had my 'madness of grandeur'!). My role was primarily to finance the activities of this new company and I had no control on it.Needless to say, this company was at the end also partly responsible for my losses.

But in the meantime, I rented a studio in Paris where I could make many pleasant stays, getting to know the gay places in the Marais, the gay district of Paris. But I tried not to get too attached to friendships dating, being content to spend a few pleasant moments in the evening in one or other of the bathhouses or saunas that I discovered in the Spartacus International Gay Guide.

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