The Collectif 1ᵉʳ janvier proposes making January 1st a national recognition day for post-war immigrant workers, known as 'zéro-un'. These men and women from Africa, southern Europe, and Asia bolstered France's workforce without known birth dates, with the state assigning January 1st on their ID cards.
The 'zéro-un' refer to immigrant workers who arrived in France after World War II to meet labor shortages. Primarily from Africa, southern Europe, and Asia, they aided the country's reconstruction. Lacking proof of their birth dates, French authorities assigned January 1st as their birthday on ID cards.
In 1964, Pierre Bideberry, national director of the Immigration Office, estimated nearly 3 million foreigners working in France. Yet, no official census tracks the exact number of these 'zéro-un'.
Against this backdrop, the Collectif 1ᵉʳ janvier—comprising researchers, artists, activists, and intellectuals—launches a campaign to turn this symbolic date into a national recognition day. Latifa Oulkhouir, a journalist and collective member, highlights the need to honor these overlooked contributions. The proposal aims to pay tribute to these invisible figures in France's migration history, emphasizing their vital role in the nation's economic growth.
Though the initiative is recent, it fits into broader efforts to acknowledge immigrants' impacts on French society, even without official data on the phenomenon's scale.
