Did African immigrants participate in the construction of the Eiffel Tower and the Paris metro?

On Twitter, far-right MEP Gilbert Collardposted a video shot during a demonstration in support of immigrants, on March 25, 2023. He quotes the words of a foreign student: “Our grandparents who built the Eiffel Tower and the metro”. But is this student necessarily wrong? On the Eiffel Tower, inaugurated in 1889, this is historically false. Before 1914, the presence of African immigrants in France was very low. Then, on the metro, the answer is a bit more nuanced. African immigrants did not participate in the creation of the first metro line, in 1898. However, subsequently, many workers, especially Kabyles, worked on the construction of other lines.

Broader words

Philip Rygielprofessor of history at the École Normale Supérieure in Lyon, explains: “Of the When we arrive in the inter-war period and a fortiori in the period after 45, we will find on all these sites a workforce from North Africa.“If we listen to the video, the words of this student are much broader. It refers in particular to the foreign skirmishers who fought for France. In general, he therefore points to the fact that African immigration has long been desired by France. “He’s absolutely right. […] This manifests itself in particular during wars, when indeed we going to draw from the colonies both labor and soldiers”says Philip Rygiel. In the end, this student therefore makes certain historical errors, but his video concerns a broader subject.