Between 1954 and 1962, about 100 to 300 young Frenchmen refused to participate in putting down the Algerian War of Independence. These draft dodgers believed in non-violence or were against colonialism. Some of them fled to Switzerland where they received help from Swiss citizens, whereas in France they were condemned as traitors. A few months after Independence, Villi Hermann, went to Algeria to help reopen a school. He has recently been back to Algeria where he met a few of his former pupils. He has also made contact with some French former draft dodgers.
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