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The Association générale des étudiants de Besançon (AGEB, Besançon Students’ Association) took an anti-colonial stance as early as 1953. The AGEB was led by young Catholic students, who fought against colonization alongside their overseas and Communist brethren. These anti-colonialist students were supported by the majority of their peers as well as some teachers. They were the driving force behind the inter-union fight against the war in Algeria. Their positions were more radical than those of the minority leadership of the Union nationale des étudiants de France (UNEF, French National Students’ Union). In 1957, a young student named Francine Rapiné was the first French person to be arrested for helping the National Liberation Front. Besançon therefore provides a specific illustration of student involvement in the fight for Algerian independence prior to 1962.