Pied Noirs.

This is coolbert:

I have had several blog entries recently that dealt with mass deportations. Mass deportations of persons carried out by military or quasi-military forces.

There is also a history from the 1950's of mass voluntary deportation as a result of warfare.

The French pied-noirs of Algeria in the aftermath of the Algerian War of Independence.

"Pieds-noirs - - Pied-noir (literally "black foot") is a term used to name the European-descended population that had been in Algeria for generations . . . In 1959, the pieds-noirs numbered 1,025,000 (85% of European descent, and 15% of Jewish descent), and accounted for 10.4% of the total population of Algeria. In just a few months in 1962, 900,000 of them fled the country"

[900,000 IN JUST A FEW MONTHS!!]

"The French government had not anticipated that such a massive number would leave . . . Scenes of thousands of panicked people camping for weeks on the docks of Algerian harbors waiting for a space on a boat to France were common from April to August 1962."

The pied-noirs voluntarily deported themselves as they found the situation hopeless. This was an enormous number to leave in such a small time and it did create a chaotic and unmanageable situation for the French authorities. In such circumstances, justice and fair treatment goes by the wayside. Expediency becomes paramount. That is what was done here.

EVEN A VOLUNTARY DEPORTATION IS NOT AN EASY THING!!

Scenes are created. Dreadful scenes. NOT the type of thing you want shown on television world-wide. Desperation creates panic and a lot of things are done that ordinarily would not be done. Tragic.

coolbert.