An elephant, a blue horse, a bear… soft toys are placed on the ground or hung on the trees. Street beacons stretched over the trees delimit a recently cleared space, it is the old cemetery for children of the camp of Saint Maurice L’Ardoise, in the Gard. A recent study carried out by ARACAN du Gard, an association of repatriates from Algeria, has made it possible to find in the archives the plan of the premises, the minutes and even the names of the children buried with their affiliations. A discovery for almost all of the harkis and children of harkis who have passed through this camp since 1962.”We had to bury the children on the sly, and only the families concerned knew it“explains Moussa Mecheref, who went through this camp.
Even the president of the ARACAN du Gard, harki engaged and 1959 and passed by the camp, Ali Laidoui, was unaware of it. Nothing surprising in this responds Rachid Guemrirene: “I can assure you that this is only the continuity of the harkis abandoned in Algeria. It is exactly the same policy and the same consideration. When we see that we throw away children, It’s like a dump there! It’s a dumpster! When you dehumanize people like that, it exactly reflects the thousands of dead abandoned in Algeria by de Gaulle. It is criminal and it remains criminal. I’m sorry to tell you but it’s the colonialist spirit that has continued.”
Make this place a place of memory, everyone wants it. Do not exhume the bodies, at least those that remain. According to the archives, this cemetery would have housed up to 31 graves. In 1979 there were only 22 left. according to a gendarmerie report dated 1979. Some would therefore have been identified. By who ? The ARACAN association does not know. One family would have been notified, not the others. Why ? No more response. This is what makes Mohand say, also past this camp, in front of the difficulties still encountered today by descendants of harkis: “I have the feeling that our history will repeat itself with our children, with our grandchildren. That’s what worries us.“
– Philippe Thomas