Document generated on
Morocco’s Azrou college: where a berber elite shaped history
Initially conceived by the French Protectorate as a cornerstone of its “berber policy” in Morocco, Azrou college was meant to groom a compliant Amazigh elite fluent in French, far from the nationalist hotbeds of Fès and Rabat. This elite would then serve in administration and the military. History, however, took a different turn. From its classrooms emerged independence activists, ministers, governors, judges, and thirteen generals. Some served Mohammed V and Hassan II, while others became casualties of the 1971 and 1972 coups. Drawing on Mohamed Benhlal’s essay “Le collège d’Azrou: une élite berbère civile et militaire au Maroc, 1927-1959” and testimonies from former students, we revisit one of Morocco’s most fascinating training grounds for contemporary elites—and the failure of the political vision that spawned it.
