Soldier Antiègne Porofo, born in 1909 in Ivory Coast, died for France on December 16, 1944 in Pierre Bénite (Rhône). Lieutenant Makane Sidibe, born in 1897 in Mali, died for France on May 23, 1940 in Aulnois (Vosges). Soldier Salem Nacer, born in 1918 in Algeria, died for France on September 13, 1944 in Fort de Sapey (Savoie). Under Lieutenant Kacem Ben Hattab El Hadi Ben, born in 1915 in Tunisia, died for France on January 25, 1944 in San Elia (Italy).
These men are part of a list of 50 names of African fighters who participated in the liberation of France during the Second World War. This was made public, Thursday, November 21, in the framework of an agreement signed by Geneviève Darrieussecq, Secretary of State to the Minister of Armies and the Association of Mayors of France.
Signature of a convention today with @l_amf around the honoring of the African fighters of the second world war in the communes. @gdarrieussecq @francoisbaroin
#memories #history #culture https://t.co/SxxanDYtWZ pic.twitter.com/Y9trrYTpon
"France has a share of Africa in it"
It follows a call made a few months ago by President Emmanuel Macron. On August 15, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the disembarkation of Provence, the head of state invited the mayors of France to baptize streets and squares with the names of African fighters. "France has a share of Africa in it and on the soil of this Provence, this part was that of bloodshed", then insisted the President of the Republic. "Today I call on the mayors of France to bring to life, by the name of our streets and squares, by our monuments and our ceremonies, the memory of those men who make Africa proud and say of France what it is deeply: an engagement, an attachment to the freedom and the greatness, a spirit of resistance which unites in the courage ".
Since this call, few local elected representatives have come forward. To encourage them to honor the memory of these fighters, they now have about fifty names available. This list has been compiled by the National Office for Veterans and Victims of War (ONACVG) and the Defense Historical Service (SHD). "This memory of the colonial fighters can be crossed in practically all the French departments, either because they were zones of combat, places of burial with the necropolises and the military squares or places of sanatorium or training ", explains Antoine Grande, the head of the department of memory and high places of national memory of ONACVG who worked on this list, contacted by France 24." In a way, all regions of France have a story with the colonial troops ".
Remember ... in August Emmanuel Macron asked the mayors of France to give streets, squares, schools, the name of ...
Posted by Geneviève Darrieussecq on Wednesday, November 20, 2019 Famous and unknown fighters
Brittany has hosted German camps of colonial prisoners including Rennes and Quimper. The region of Lyon was marked by the massacre of skirmishers in June 1940, 188 of which were buried in the national necropolis of Chasselay. In the Vosges, the Senegalese fighter from Guinea Addi Bâ participated in the establishment of the first maquis, while in Royan the companion of the Central African Liberation Paul Koudoussaragne was illlustré in February 1945 in the fighting to free the pocket. So many stories, but some of them are still unknown. The fault is a lack of resources. "The difficulty for African fighters is that you have vital records that are random, sometimes with incorrect spelling for the name or incorrect birth dates, or military paths quite deficient", Antoine Grande emphasizes. "If it were as simple as for other fighters, we would have no difficulty in creating elaborate biographies, which shows that we are on a lack and a need."
Despite these difficulties, the ONACVG has chosen not to focus solely on the best-known and most documented courses. "If we did a list with famous fighters, we would not need such a step.It would have been easy to establish thirty names," says Antoine Grande. "On the contrary, we want to show to the mayors that starting from their territory, we have been able to find this or that name, even if a man has been forgotten in France and in Africa, one can nevertheless manage to have some elements on its course ".
To a list of one hundred names
To achieve this, the ONACVG and the SHD intend to carry out this research work for a municipality or community wishing to honor the memory of a fighter in connection with his city or region. Their teams can also accompany schoolchildren engaged in a work of history and memory. "First and foremost, we want to open a pedagogical door", insists Antoine Grande.
Because the subject is always sensitive. In Sarcelles, a stele depicting African soldiers who died for France during the two world wars was vandalized on 14 November last just after the commemoration of 11 November. "This type of degradation shows the social importance of these issues," Antoine Grande analysis. "There is always the fear for some that if we underline the specificity of certain courses, we erase the memory of others, which is absolutely not the case.This story of African fighters is an African story, but it's also a French story ". The work of ONACVG and SHD continues. By the end of the year, these two organizations hope to propose to the mayors of France a list of one hundred names of African fighters who participated in the Second World War.