a museum place where history, memories, art, dialogue and cooperation could coexist”

Iwo years ago, on January 20, 2021, Benjamin Stora submitted his report to the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, in which one of the recommendations concerned the relaunch of the project for a museum of France and Algeria in Montpellier, which had been abandoned in 2014 (“Memorial questions relating to colonization and the Algerian war”).

This recommendation is part of a long-term work carried out by various organizations, associations and personalities of civil society for the emergence of an institute of France and Algeria.

In October 2021, the Regards de la jeunesse group on Franco-Algerian memories again supported this request to the President of the Republic, for the creation of this institute of France and Algeria: a museum place where history , memories, art, dialogue and cooperation could coexist. Emmanuel Macron then committed to it.

During his trip to Algeria at the end of August 2022, he renewed his desire to carry out this institute project jointly and to make it, in his words, a place “where the memory (…) projects a space both for research, for truth, no doubt for recognition, but also for creation, culture, sharing”. Michaël Delafosse, mayor (PS) of Montpellier, also reaffirmed in August the legitimacy of the city, land of welcome for many returnees and harkis, in order to build this institute there. “to look courageously at the past, but also to draw lines for the future”.

A common future

Today, we, associations, historians, artists, researchers, actors of the cultural ecosystem and civil society, recall that the realization of this project is more than essential to the dialogue of memories. We see it as a tool to reconcile them but also to highlight historical truth and build a common future for new generations.

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Creating a place dedicated to this history is both a symbol and a form of recognition. The demand of civil society, and particularly that of youth, for a place to learn but also to appropriate this history must be heard.

The project has been postponed several times due to political disagreements over the role it should play, questioning in turn whether it should be more political, societal or museum. So, is it really the function of the museum to position itself on political issues? Is the role of the museum in our contemporary society to host public debate? And therefore, more broadly, is the museum a place for the expression of democracy?

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