Between 15,000 and 20,000 Senegalese riflemen took part in this operation, which celebrates its 80th anniversary on Thursday. A little-known story that some Senegalese high schools are trying to teach.
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Settled in a room in the suburbs of Dakar, the nine students from the Thiaroye high school are sharing what they have discovered in recent weeks about the Landing in Provence. Many students had never heard of this day of August 15, 1944, and even less of the participation of Senegalese riflemen in this vast operation. “Here in Senegal, we very rarely talk about the Landing in Provence, explains Ibrahima, in second year class. We interviewed many Senegalese riflemen, veterans and even when we were at the military forces museum, they said nothing about the Provence landings. And at school, we don’t learn about this episode either.”
It is also to compensate for this absence, and especially the colonial reading of the event in school programs, that French teacher Dienaba Sarr is involved.This is the program that I studied, the Second World War, and this is the program that continues to be taught and in the same way. This means that, even with the advances, we continue to teach the program as wanted by the French to the Senegalese, explains Dienaba Sarr, who created this research group. This is what this landing served for France and how it happened, but not in relation to the riflemen.”
This lack of recognition for those who came before them, and who sometimes gave their lives, shocks Mamadou, a high school student. “It’s a feeling of misfortune, of frustration. It’s sad, in a way, that the riflemen took part in the Landing in Provence and we don’t know about it.”
Of the nine high school students, five are participating in the ceremonies in France this Thursday, August 15. “We really want to go to these places to find out what they understood. And we intend to discuss this to see the best version: we really want to rewrite history.”says Ibrahima, who hopes to meet high school students from the south of France.
“I think it will allow us to know our history a little better. I plan to visit some places where the Senegalese riflemen were, to better experience the moment.”
Sokhana, a Senegalese high school student participating in the ceremonies in Franceto franceinfo
A rewriting of history to make it their history, that of Senegal. This is the goal of these high school students who have already planned to introduce this little-known episode to their classmates, as soon as the school year starts.