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Document in which the person appears — not a portrait

Historical photographCare given to wounded from the Aït Atta side at the foot of the Bou Gafer (1933)1933 (d'après la légende ; non datée précisément)Publication illustrée non identifiée (photographie légendée numérisée en 2011, « 1933._Spillmann_au_Sagho.jpg ») ; fichier fourni par le titulaire du projetProbable attribution— Identification based on a published or institutional source, without independent confirmation.

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Georges Spillmann

جورج سبيلمان

Native Affairs officer in Morocco (from 1920), author of “Les Aït Atta du Sahara et la pacification du Haut Dra” (1936).

Born
31 July 1899, Saint-Lunaire Confirmed by a verified source
Died
23 June 1980, Niort Confirmed by a verified source
Witness / author
Spellings
Georges Draque (pseudonyme) · Capitaine Spillmann

Biography

A volunteer for the intelligence and native affairs service on leaving Saint-Cyr (1920), he later became a general and diplomat. Saulay places him in March 1933 at the head of the Dra harka, receiving the families who were leaving Bou Gafer.

Assisted translation, not validated

Sources — 3 sources cited · 3 independent documentary line(s)

  1. Wikipédia (français) — « Georges Spillmann »Full text consulted · Encyclopedic synthesis
  2. Wikipédia (français) — « Pacification du Maroc »Excerpts consulted · Encyclopedic synthesis
  3. Saulay, 1983 — p. 60Full text consulted · Colonial military

In the encyclopedia

Related events

  1. 10 March 1933Confirmed by a verified source

    150 families leave the Bou Gafer

    Ait Ouanebgui and Ait Yazza families cross the lines on the side of the Drâa harka; Captain Spillmann receives them with a doctor who treats the worst affected (Saulay).

    ⌖ Bou Gafer massif (combat area)

    Saulay then attributes to Captain Spillmann, in indirect style, these thoughts before “this grim Bou Gafer, last stronghold of magnificent [misprinted in the bulletin] warriors who would rather be cut to pieces than submit. And they have their women, their children, their flocks with them... How can this massacre be stopped?”, narration by a former officer, fifty years later, not a quotation from anything Spillmann wrote.

    Reported figures

    Families crossing the lines150Saulay, 1983Confirmed by a verified source

    Figures are attributed to their source, never merged or averaged.

    Source pagesSaulay, 1983, p. 60

    Sources — 1 sources cited · 1 independent documentary line(s)

    1. Saulay, 1983 — p. 60Full text consulted · Colonial military
  2. 1936Confirmed by a verified source

    Publication of Georges Spillmann's Les Aït Atta du Sahara

    The Institut des Hautes Études Marocaines published in Rabat Captain Spillmann's study, which estimates the Aït Atta population at 38,000 according to encyclopedic syntheses.

    Reported figures

    Estimated Aït Atta population38 000Wikipédia (français) — « Aït Atta »Unverified information

    Figures are attributed to their source, never merged or averaged.

    Sources — 2 sources cited · 1 independent documentary line(s)

    1. Spillmann, 1936Known through indirect citations · Colonial military
    2. Wikipédia (français) — « Aït Atta »Full text consulted · Encyclopedic synthesis

Source pages

  1. CorrectsShort quotationSaulay, 1983, p. 60

    On 10 March, 150 Aït Ouanebgui and Aït Yazza families cross the lines. The sentence on “this grim Bou Gafer” is Saulay's narration, in indirect style, not a quotation of Spillmann; the bulletin prints “manifiques [sic]”.

    « Pourtant, le 10 mars, 150 familles Aït Ouanebgui et Aït Yazza annoncent leur intention de passer dans les lignes de la harka du Draa pour aller faire leur soumission au général Giraud. »

    Account by a former goum officer, published in 1983 in the bulletin of a veterans' association of the Native Affairs service and based on French operation reports. The vocabulary (“submission”, “insurgents”) is the source's.

    Document :
    La Koumia. Bulletin de liaison, n° 88 · Periodical issue
    Source :
    Saulay, 1983
    printed page
    printed page 60 · PDF page 64
    Status
    Quotation checked on the page image · 2026-11-07
    SHA-256 fingerprint of the private capture :
    3273c6d2dd499681e9378d9dfefa01f4b2a6d316472f1b30f5413ef352fc9972

    Reproduction of the page not authorised: reference and short quotation only. The capture stays in the project's private archive.

    Linked to10 March 1933 — 150 families leave the Bou GaferGeorges Spillmann
  2. DocumentsShort quotationSpillmann et al., 2007, p. 61

    Spillmann describes the division of the Aït Atta into five “fifths” and gives a number of hearths (kanoun) for each tribe, 7,560 in all; his note states that no census exists and estimates the population at about 38,000, at five people per hearth.

    « تنقسم الإتحادية إلى خمسة أخماس: […] المجموع، 7560 كانون. […] لم يجر أي إحصاء دقيق لحد الآن. ومن ثم تعتبر هذه الأرقام تقريبية. »

    “The confederation is divided into five fifths: […] Total: 7,560 hearths. […] No precise census has been made so far; these figures are therefore approximate.” (SAGHRO working translation, not validated) (SAGHRO working translation, not validated)

    Read in the 2007 Arabic translation (p. 61), not in the 1936 original. A marginal mark “/74/” seems to refer to the French edition's page: not verified. Estimate by a Native Affairs officer, not to be reused as an established demographic figure. The OCR read “/14/”: figures were checked on the image.

    printed page
    printed page 61 · PDF page 61
    Status
    Quotation checked on the page image · 2026-11-07
    SHA-256 fingerprint of the private capture :
    9e696ef3ce34c0eba7ee8fd50403fb1aacb0098b3551a55d494b481330a8b6af

    Reproduction of the page not authorised: reference and short quotation only. The capture stays in the project's private archive.

    Linked toGeorges Spillmann