Un combat tranquille. Une fille de Harki se souvient. Récit autobiographique

The Quiet Struggle of a Harki Daughter

In this autobiographical account by Hafida Chabi, a former section member of the CESE (Economic, Social and Environmental Council), the reader follows the perspective of a Harki daughter, who, at the age of five, was uprooted and cast with her entire family into an unknown country: mainland France.

I have gathered all the fragments of my memories to reconstruct, like a puzzle, my own life and that of my parents:

Youcef, my father, who enlisted as a Harki in the French army.

Dabhia, my mother, who spent her entire life taking care of her husband and her thirteen children.

I wrote this book to leave traces, so that all this suffering never disappears. However, the struggle I have had to wage throughout my life has never been violent. It is like that of my parents: humble and measured. A quiet struggle.

My parents arrived in France in total destitution. To the material distress was added a profound moral distress, because they lived poorly with the lack of recognition for their sacrifice for France. However, they never ceased to transmit to us the fundamental values of the Republic because they wished above all that their children would blend into French society. (Hafida Chabi)