Maison d'Histoire et de Mémoire d'Ongles

About

The House of History and Memory of Ongles (MHeMO) was opened in 2008 in Ongles (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence). It includes a permanent exhibition entitled They arrive tomorrow, recounting the story of twenty families of harkis (more than a hundred people) who arrived in the village on September 6, 1962, in the context of the end of the Algerian war. Both a place of memory and a place of history, the exhibition describes how Lieutenant Yves Durand, lieutenant of a Specialized Administrative Section (S.A.S.) in Algeria, resigned to be able to bring back former substitutes to France, notably to Ongles.

It shows the evolution of the situation for the former harkis and their families, from the installation in a forest hamlet designed for them, until their departure in Cannes in 1965, then the transformation of the forest hamlet into a vocational training centre for the descendants of former harkis, until 1971. The design of the exhibition was assisted by historians Jean-Jacques Jordi and Abderahmen Moumen.