The abandonment of the harkis also belongs to France
The mayor of La Londe recalled France's responsibility in the tragedy of the harkis during the national day of tribute.
It was with a speech filled with solemnity and gravity that François de Canson commemorated on September 25 the national day of tribute to the harkis and other members of the auxiliary forces.
In the presence of civil and military authorities, veterans' associations, and families, the elected official stressed the need for the Nation to look one of the most painful pages of its contemporary history in the face, without concession or omission.
A wound that History cannot erase
The mayor insisted on the indelible nature of the memory of the harkis, calling it a "wound that neither the passage of generations, nor the easing of passions, nor even the slow work of History can truly erase". For him, the greatness of a nation is not measured by its ability to obscure its past, but on the contrary, by its ability to accept it in its entirety, with its shadows and light.
A Nation is never made greater by arranging its past to suit its present comfort. This ceremony is therefore not a simple calendar ritual but the expression of a loyalty that the Republic owes to itself and to those who served it at the risk of their lives
François de Canson recalled the commitment of these men who, "in the turmoil of the Algerian War", made the choice of France. A choice made "not in the tranquility of happy days but in the clash of History", a choice that exposed their lives and those of their families. They served a flag that they believed, and they were right to believe it, would protect them in return.
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Yet, the independence of Algeria marked the beginning of a tragedy: the abandonment by France, followed by bloody reprisals, forced exile for a minority and, for those who arrived in mainland France, an often undignified welcome in camps or forestry hamlets, prolonging the ordeal of displacement.
Furthermore, the mayor spoke of the silent transmission of this pain within families, a history long kept silent, lived "in low voices, in the intimacy of homes". He hailed the law of February 23, 2022, as a crucial step, enshrining in law "the Nation's recognition of those who had served France, and its responsibility for the undignified conditions of their reception".
This legislative recognition, although necessary, cannot however suffice on its own to heal all wounds. The law can recognize a mistake; it does not give back the lost years. It can open up a right to reparation; it restores neither a youth, nor an abandoned house, nor a missing father
La Londe-les-Maures, a path of fraternity
The speech took on a special resonance by evoking local history. In 1963, the municipality, under the impetus of the mayor at the time, Philippe de Canson, welcomed forty-five harki families.
He understood that people are welcomed neither behind fences nor apart from others. By giving them the opportunity to work, house their families, and send their children to the same schools as others, the municipality allowed these exiles to rebuild their lives and become an integral part of the identity of La Londe
The courage [of the harkis] belongs to France. Their commitment belongs to France. Their sacrifice belongs to France. And their abandonment, too, belongs to France
Photos Alain BLANCHOT.