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== How to be a pied-noir while escaping colonial nostalgia? #algeria #colonialhistory #france #piednoir #limoges The exhibition on Algerian gastronomy organized by the Cercle algérianiste at the francophone multimedia library in Limoges had caused some controversy. Following the broadcast of the Télé Millevaches news item highlighting the colonial nostalgia expressed through the exhibition, we received several messages, including one from Jean-Louis Maigron. Born in Algeria in 1946, he is one of the many pieds-noirs who abruptly left the former colony following the Évian Accords in 1962. In his message, he says he is shocked by the expression used by the members of the Cercle algérianiste: "in 1830, Algeria did not exist". Jean-Louis does not share this opinion or the rest of what is expressed by the association based in Perpignan. A structure clearly positioned on the far right, and financed by Mayor Louis Aliot (RN), himself a former pied-noir. In this interview, Jean-Louis tells us about his family's journey, linking the little story to the big one. We first return to the colonization process. Before the arrival of the French, Algeria had several dynasties whose power was organized. This territory had cities and productive agriculture. Contrary to what is claimed by the Algerianist Circle, before 1830, Algeria did indeed exist. In a second part, we will go into depth on the human aspect of the war of independence. "I saw Algerians shot down and put on the stadium, inflated in the sun... I saw attacks against Europeans from the village." Finally, he will read us some excerpts from the memoirs of the French marshals who conquered Algeria in 1830, Thomas R. Bugeot and Armand L. de Saint Arnaud, whose cruelty towards the conquered populations is undeniable, frightening, and bloody. The work of amateur historian that Jean-Louis personally produced on this period of his life allowed him to gain perspective and not succumb to a colonial nostalgia that is nevertheless strongly expressed among the community of pieds-noirs and their descendants. A resentment widely exploited by the National Rally, a party itself founded by the avowed nostalgic for French Algeria that was Jean-Marie Le Pen. However, Jean-Louis will not deny the injury and suffering experienced by the pieds-noirs during their exile, as well as the immense feeling of betrayal when Charles de Gaulle finally abandoned the idea of Algerian colonization. "A huge human waste," he concluded, his eyes filled with emotion.