I\u2019ve always had questions about my family. Both sides of my family immigrated to France not so long ago but I never knew the details. I always knew I was Algerian and Polish because we were so proud about it but my actual family here in France is quite small so I didn\u2019t have a lot of chance to have answers. So I basically lived my life without really knowing where I\u2019m really from. Until now. Because I decided that 2018 would be the year where I take care of myself. So I decided to use everybody\u2019s best friend, Internet, to look for informations on my family. The first time I tried wasn\u2019t really a success, every name I typed, I couldn\u2019t find it. When I tried to look for my grandparents, my father\u2019s parents, I only found his name, not even his brothers and sisters\u2019 names. When I tried to search for my mother\u2019s father\u2019s name, I only found my grandmother\u2019s obituary.<\/p>\n
My mother\u2019s name gave nothing except her social medias and just our family name didn\u2019t give anything as it is one of the most common Polish last name. It\u2019s so common it\u2019s the first thing I saw when I arrived in the small town I visited in Poland, the twin town of where I live in France. But when I typed my great- grandfather’s name I found a website specialized in family trees. My great-grandfather, my grandparents and my mother\u2019s names were on this website so I looked deep into and I found some names related to my family so I decided to begin my own family tree, at first it was easy because I know my close family but after I entered my parents, siblings, grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins\u2019 names, I was stuck because I didn\u2019t know any more names. Actually, I only knew my French family and no other names. I had my great-grandfather\u2019s name but it was the only name I had. It was on the website with another name related but I wasn\u2019t sure because the name really sounded French and was supposed to be Polish. But every date was accurate, it said that my (supposedly) great-grandfather got the French nationality between 1909 and 1963 (nobody knows the exact date but the website gave these dates and it\u2019s between them) and the first wave of polish immigration to France started in 1909.<\/p>\n
It all made sense but at the same time the name related to it didn\u2019t make any sense to me but it was the middle of night at the time so I couldn\u2019t ask my mother for information. But when I could she confirmed that the name I found was her grandmother so I already found both my polish great-grandparents. I continued to look deep into this website and I couldn\u2019t find anything about my Algerian family, as my grandparents directly immigrated from Algeria so I already know everybody here and I\u2019m the second generation born in France, my father being their first child he\u2019 the first to be born in France. But what I found is a user of this website who just happens to be my mother\u2019s cousin, and his family tree was almost perfect as only the most recent generation were missing (me and my cousins). So I actually found the entire family tree for my mother\u2019s side and it goes back to the 1600s and even before. Also I acknowledged that I probably won\u2019t know anything more about my Algerian family as my father doesn\u2019t even know hos grandparents and only my grandparents and my uncles\/aunts who went to Algeria for vacation know the family there.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why I\u2019m not happy when someone calls me pure white and French. Polish people are indeed white, but it\u2019s definitely not France and I\u2019m the third generation born here. I\u2019m also the second generation born here for my Algerian family and it\u2019s not because my skin is lighter than them and my hair is pink (naturally deep black) that I\u2019m disowning my Algerian heritage. I actually decided that even if I don\u2019t talk to this side of the family a much as before, now is the time I finally decide to be proud of it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u2019ve always had questions about my family. Both sides of my family immigrated to France not so long ago but I never knew the details. I always knew I was Algerian and Polish because we were so proud about it but my actual family here in France is quite small so I didn\u2019t have a lot of chance to have answers. So I basically lived my life without really knowing where I\u2019m really from. Until now. Because I decided that 2018 would be the year where I take care of…<\/span><\/p>\n