Djamila is now 63 years old. At the end of the Algerian War, she lived for three years in the Cité des Chaumines in Buchelay (Yvelines). A harki camp which, like others, is not yet recognized as having served as a reception structure.
Today, nothing remains. No remains. Only small pavilions rolled up just at the top of the church. However, Djamila, 63, remembers this day in December 1968 very well. She was nine years old when she arrived with her parents in the town of Chaumines in Buchelay (Yvelines). There is this big gate and behind it, “prefabs”. “I think there must have been between 20 and 25 families, it seems to me. It was just us, we were just returnees from Algeria.”
>> INFO FRANCEINFO. The government wants to initiate a reflection on the creation of a foundation for the harkis
He had to flee the country, because his father was a harki. Several tens of thousands of these Muslim auxiliaries of the French army during the Algerian War, often accompanied by women and children, were transferred to France after independence, where they were placed in transit camps in the unworthy living conditions. For Djamila, the new life in the camp in Buechelay is tough. Two rooms for a family of six, a small stove and outside, it’s double trouble. “Arabs, go home, you people… We were lost: we don’t know who we are, where we are and why we are here.” She stayed there for three years, until 1972. Then, there was silence for decades. The story is too painful. We don’t talk about it with family or friends.
“No papers, no school documents”
But in 2022, the law relating to aid allocated to harkis is one of the triggers for Djamila. She then approached the association Agir pour les harkis, which had never heard of this Buchelay camp. Since May 2023, 45 new sites have been recognized as reception structures giving right to reparation, that is to say compensation, for harkis and their families.
But the city of Chaumines is not there yet. The investigative work begins, supported by the Buchelay town hall, which is exhuming the archives of the time. “There were plans, many letters, several documents on the life of the Chaumines, explains Djamila. It is well indicated, clearly specified that these were families who were repatriated from Algeria.”
On September 9, the file was handed over to the prefect so that the Chaumines camp could be officially recognized. And it would be a sort of rebirth for Djamila: “I didn’t exist before the age of twelve. I don’t have any papers, I don’t have school documents. I had an existence from the age of twelve when we moved . So if the Chaumines are recognized, my journey will be recognized. For me, for my family and all those who have lived here. So we expect recognition and compensation for everything we have suffered. This must be known . Which they had no right to abandon to us, as they did.”
For the first time, this year, a ceremony in tribute to the harkis will take place on Monday September 25 in Buchelay.
Harkis: the testimony of Djamila, at the microphone of Farida Nouar