Issa, Ousmane, Djibril. Three generations and three voices that journalist and author Nadia Hathroubi-Safsaf made heard in her novel Shadow Brothers*. 1917, Issa must be shot for the example. Officially, he would have tried to desert. But the soldier, with already recognized feats of arms, had above all to suffer from the absurd omnipotence of a racist officer. In Senegal, his wife will raise her son, Ousmane, alone. The latter, who was told that his father would have died in the sinking of the liner Africa, grew up in the glorious memory of a hero father. But gray areas persisted and he in turn decided to get involved as Europe was about to experience another explosion. Years later, we find Ousmane and his grandson Djibril in France. Ousmane is still trying to solve the mystery surrounding Issa’s death, a stubborn quest that Djibril will take up on his own.
Through an interlacing of three stories, Nadia Hathroubi-Safsaf has woven a story imbued with humanity, making heard forgotten life paths that mingle with the Great History. History “with its big axe”, as the writer Georges Perec said. The one that was able to shoot down whole branches of stories, from the shots of the Chemin des Dames to the troops of sacrifices, that of the conscripts of the Empire, of the small resistances and of great humanity. Maintenance.
The Africa Point: How did you come to be interested in this subject?
Nadia Hathroubi-Safsaf: I was not necessarily aware of the reasons for my interest in this piece of history until I was asked the question. It seemed natural to me to be interested in the subject. I have a real passion for WWII. That had been the subject of my first novel (They are our brothers and their children are our childrenZellige, 2016) which focused on the Kabyle resistance fighters of this war. My story is in a way related to this issue of veterans.
My great-uncles were Tunisian skirmishers and served in the French army, in Indochina in particular. They have kept a sadness that, as a child, I did not understand. I remember one of them showing me his veteran’s papers and telling me that France had abandoned them. By following this thread, I became interested in the history of Senegalese skirmishers, perhaps less known than those from the Maghreb. We do not seem to realize that these soldiers fought as much during the First World War as during the Second World War. Moreover, I grew up in the Marais, with friends and neighbors of people of Jewish religion. So I was just as nourished by stories and memories of the Holocaust. As a child, I passed in front of the building where the Commissariat for Jewish Affairs was located. The walls seemed to me impregnated with this history. It sometimes seems to me that through writing, all memories also seek to exist.
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With hindsight, I note that one of my objects of reflection, which dates back to my beginnings as a journalist, was very quickly that of the transmission of memory. I call this “the other story of France”. I don’t like to talk about integration, but rather about citizenship. One of the ways for everyone to feel like a citizen is to give a place to this little-known story in the national narrative. Knowing that the ancestors fought for the country and then came back to build this inscribed and rooted country.
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When you say “our story”, what is this “we”?
This “we” contains children of immigrant origin, of all immigrations. I had written an essay in 2012 on the subject in which I had people testify who had had a migratory journey. I thus remember the testimony of this gentleman whose father had been killed under Francoism. His mother had crossed the Pyrenees with him as a child. Walk. These stories touch me. They are important to transmit and they must be told. In order to put down roots somewhere, we must above all know our roots. We are like transplanted trees. Knowing these stories from elsewhere helps with this transplant. These stories, moreover, do not oppose each other, but intertwine.
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The word that comes to the reading is that of “rehabilitation”. Has an injustice been done to these soldiers?
These men who fought were indeed wronged. Once back, few had the same rights as the other fighters. And then, I found historical events that few people know about. The sinking of Africa in January 1920, for example, or the massacre of Chasselay in June 1940. The question of the “shots for example”, in particular on the Chemin des Dames, also seemed to me to have to be addressed.
The sinking of Africa was the Titanic French. But it has been erased from collective memory. These soldiers died a second time. They had survived bombs, shells, gas. They were finally going home and the boat sank. The families got nothing, neither support nor help. Sometimes they were even left in the dark about what had happened to theirs.
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Regarding the Chasselay massacre, before my research, I had never heard of this event. The 25the Regiment of Senegalese Riflemen is then based near Lyon and tries to keep the city. Faced with their resistance, the Nazis employed extreme methods. It was a real massacre with tanks rolling over bodies. The Germans had worked hard to avenge what they had called “the black shame”, the occupation by troops of the colonies of the Rhineland after the First World War. That said, humanity also expressed itself, because the bodies of the skirmishers were buried by the French, a dignified burial was given to them.
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Did you have a typical reader in mind? How did you work on the historical base?
I wanted to write a book that could be read by everyone. I also thought of my children and wanted to write the book so that they would learn our history. The one you don’t necessarily find in history and literature books. For that, I sometimes had to be didactic. I observe that the younger generations are either very aware of this history, or totally ignorant. There is no middle ground. The research work was essential. I dug these stories through several books. I also worked on military issues, battle maps, the functioning of the army, all of this over two wars. The research work was essential.
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Were these soldiers recognized for their sacrifice during these two world wars?
I recall in the book that the United States had requested that these soldiers not appear during the liberation of Europe. The United States, it should be remembered, were still segregationist at the time. On the French side, there was a desire to create a typical resistant, that of a Frenchman who decides to take up arms against the occupier. This resistant was, with a few exceptions, a man, according to this memorial storytelling. However, women also participated in this resistance. It was necessary to erase the contribution of the soldiers of the Empire, whereas this one remained and was called to remain.
Another point, the question of pensions that have not been reassessed for decades. I also note the lack of recognition in official ceremonies. I was elected in a city of Val-d’Oise and I was able to experience this blind spot. In 2018, I wanted to organize an exhibition on the contribution of these soldiers of the Empire to the two world wars. I encountered difficulties, as if this simple exposure disturbed the official national narrative.
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