A library photo of early Muslim immigrants in France

By Hadi Yahmid, IOL Correspondent

PARIS, January 4 (IslamOnline.net) – In recognition of the remarkable achievements made by the immigrants, the French government has decided to establish a museum to showcase the key role played by the communities in developing society throughout French history.

The government said that the museum, expected to be inaugurated in mid 2005, is mainly aimed at writing the history of immigrants in France.

The museum is the brainchild of former French prime minister Lionel Jospin.

During his election campaign in 2002, incumbent French President Jacques Chirac and his Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin championed the unique idea.

Established in a Paris suburb on the ruins of a museum of defunct French colonies, the gallery is expected to play a prominent educational, cultural and research role.

It will also play host to a miscellany of exhibitions on the influx of German, Portuguese, Spanish, Arab and Muslim immigrants into the country, which started in 1820.

The museum is equipped with state-of-art audio and visual devices and contains a documentary library and an immigrant archive.

Muslim Immigrants

The museum also provides researchers with useful material on how Muslim immigrants enriched French culture.

From this point, it has set up permanent pavilions for the works of prominent Muslim immigrants like Hamza Boubakeur, the father of Dalil Boubakeur, the chairman of the French Council for the Muslim Faith (CFCM).

Hamza Boubakeur was among the first Muslim immigrants who arrived in France early 20th century. He established the Paris mosque in the western European country.

There are some 5-6 million Muslims living in France nowadays with most of them hailing from north African countries and Turkey.

Mass-circulation Le Monde newspaper said on Tuesday, January 4, that one of every three French was of foreign origin.

The integration of immigrants into French society has been brought to the fore recently.

French intellectuals have called for honoring the immigrant fighters, who paid the ultimate sacrifice in the World Wars I, II.

Marking the 60th anniversary of the landing of the allied forces on the southern French mainland between Toulon and Cannes during the World War II, Chirac decorated last year a number of veterans of Moroccan and African origin for helping liberate the homeland from the Nazi.