The Lost Children of Réunion Island

Imagine if your past was erased.
Imagine if you woke up one day and
everything you knew about yourself was fake.
Imagine if this happened to more than just yourself Let's say, an entire group of children.
Well, it did, in France, beginning in the 1960s.
So, if this happened to you as a child,
imagine now as an adult, piecing together the mystery of who you are.
Let's rewind, tell me the whole story from the start.
This is where you are born, la Réunion.
A small piece of land in the middle of the Indian Ocean that was colonized
by the French empire in the 17th century.
This is where you grew up.
La Creuse, a rural area in Central France.
Around the time you were born in 1963, France was struggling to hold
on to its colonies.
Réunion was suffering from over
population and a growing poverty.
know was that hundreds and
What you didn't know was that
hundreds and hundreds of children were sent
from La Réunion to France.
Just like you.
At the time, it was advertised as a win win.
France would welcome kids from poor families.
And they would, in turn, help repopulate France's deserted areas.
Local authorities convinced the children's parents to let them go.
Allegedly by promising to educate them, and allow them to visit home.
Most of the parents were illiterate, and
signed over the guardianship of the children.
To complete the transition from
La Réunion to France, you and many other children were never told of your past.
Most French didn't know either.
And you tried by all
means to resemble her.
In the early 80s, the deportations stopped.
But you started to question the past.
You
then discovered that you had brothers and sisters.
They were sent to France too.
In fact, they grew up in the exact same town as you,
you just never knew they existed.
You are not the only one beginning to uncover the secrets.
In the early 2000s, a former La Réunion child sued the state of France for
deportation, it became a state scandal.
This is when you discover the most about your past.
In 2014 your country recognized its responsibility in your deportation,
and claimed it is necessary to teach the story.
But as a commission is investigating what happened, the uncertainty remains.
How?
Why?
Who are you now?
Who do you see when you look at yourself?

The Lost Children of Réunion Island | NBC Left Field

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