Four boxes containing bones were found in the Rivesaltes cemetery (Pyrénées-Orientales). It could be the remains of the harkis, mainly children, deceased and buried without burial between 1962 and 1964 in the Rivesaltes camp. Upon his arrival in France, part of the Algerian population, support from France during the Algerian war, had been parked there, after being forced to leave the country in disaster.
Having become a memorial in 2015, this camp in turn “welcomed” the Spanish refugees after the Retirada in 1939, then Jews and Gypsies during the Second World War and harkis in the wake of the signing of the Evian agreements in 1962. Highlights under unworthy conditions, these populations experienced significant mortality. Between fifty and sixty people would have died and buried there without burial.
Empty tombs discovered in November
Mandated by the independent national commission Harkis, researchers had managed to locate the site of a cemetery inside the camp. But in November, families had the pain of discovering that these tombs were empty and the deceased transported in the most complete anonymity outside the camp. An operation most certainly carried out in the 1980s after its acquisition by the Departmental Council of the Pyrénées-Orientales from the Ministry of the Armed Forces.
While Patricia MirallèsMinister responsible for memory and veterans, is expected in Rivesaltes on April 28, his ministry warned the families of the discovery of these bones. They must now be analyzed in order to determine with certainty if they are the bones of the deceased.
