Independence of Algeria: the difficult return to France of the Pieds-noirs

Tuesday, July 5, Algeria will commemorate its 60 years of independence. If joy had invaded the HASlgerians in the streets, the day was not cheerful for everyone. Indeed, many pied-noirs have from leave the country. Arrived in Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône) for the most part, they keep a painful memory of this day, for some because of the welcome received. “they didn’t like us“, testifies a woman. “The pied-noir is a settler, he is rich. So many stereotypes that make the reception in France did not go well“, explains the historian Jean-Jacques Jordi.

The Marseille city was also not ready to deal with such a population in an emergency. The mayor at the time, Gaston Deferre, had same had this scathing sentence: “they will rehabilitate somewhere else“. The urgent situation forced the city to quickly find homes to accommodate the blackfoot. LAdaptation was difficult for French people repatriated from Algeria. “They were surprised to hear us speak French (…). I understood that they knew nothing about us“, entrusts Marie-Laure Garcia, one of them.