A military cemetery near Lyon, where nearly 200 West African soldiers who fought for France in World War II are buried, has reopened after being desecrated earlier this year – and despite ongoing controversy over the identification of some of the dead.
France's junior defence minister, Patricia Mirallès, led the reopening ceremony on Friday at the Tata Necropolis in Chasselay. The cemetery was vandalised in January, prompting its temporary closure for repairs.
The site honours the tirailleurs sénégalais (Senegalese riflemen), who were captured and massacred by the Germans in June 1940.
But the solemn event has been overshadowed by serious allegations from a historian who says some of the names on the soldiers' plaques are incorrect – and were added without proper legal procedure.
'Memory deception'
Historian Armelle Mabon has been investigating what she describes as a "memory deception" involving the identities of the Senegalese soldiers commemorated at the site.
"They did this for 14 of them, changing the names without going through the proper legal route via the public prosecutor," Mabon told RFI.
The issue goes back three years ago, when the then junior defence minister, Geneviève Darrieussecq, inaugurated two new commemorative plaques.
They listed 25 names, said to be soldiers from the 25th Senegalese Rifle Regiment who were missing or unidentified but buried at the site.
Officials at the time claimed that genetic testing had helped confirm the soldiers' identities. But Mabon filed a case with the administrative court and discovered that no such testing had taken place.
The defence ministry was eventually forced to admit it.
I'd do it all over again, says Senegalese rifleman who fought for France
Replacing existing plaques
"The prosecutor must first modify the death certificate and afterwards, one can modify the name," Mabon said. "The name must be identical between the death certificate and the name on the plaque, and that is not the case."
This has made it harder to trace the original records of the Senegalese troops, she added.
"It's because the names have been changed that it's so difficult to find the files on these tirailleurs sénégalais. For the memory of these men who died for France, we can't be doing this kind of thing," Mabon said.
She is now calling for the existing plaques to be replaced with ones that use the correct, legally recognised names.
The historian wants the new plaques to reflect the soldiers' real names, as recorded in official documents.
