A collective of researchers defends the Rivesaltes camp memorial against attacks from the Rassemblement national, which accuses it of erasing harkis memory. Inaugurated in 2015 in the Pyrénées-Orientales, the site marks its tenth anniversary amid tension. The facts demonstrate that the accusations do not hold up against the institution's actual programming.
The Rivesaltes camp memorial, inaugurated in October 2015 in the Pyrénées-Orientales, recently commemorated its tenth anniversary. This site, designed by architect Rudy Ricciotti as a 210-meter concrete monolith symbolizing buried memory, traces the history of Western Europe's largest internment camp, operational from 1941 to 1964 across 6 square kilometers.
Since September, the Rassemblement national (RN) has launched a denigration campaign against the memorial and its teams. RN elected officials, at the National Assembly, the Occitanie regional council, and the site itself, have made accusations labeling the place a 'temple of wokism' and claiming that harkis memory is 'deliberately erased' in favor of other memories and 'guilt-inducing discourses,' amounting to a 'betrayal of history.'
A collective of researchers, in a tribune published in Le Monde, challenges these claims by recalling the facts. The Joffre camp at Rivesaltes, originally military, became an internment center in January 1941, receiving a convoy from the Agde camp (Hérault). Under the Vichy regime established in July 1940, it interned about 50,000 men, women, and children, including Jewish refugees, Spanish and Polish families, and French nomads.
The site's history spans the Spanish Civil War, World War II, the Shoah, and decolonization, highlighting its diverse memorial scope. The researchers assert that harkis memory is integrated there, refuting the RN's criticisms as unfounded.