The goal of the museum of immigration is to situate the history of immigration within a common history uniting the memories of the French around a shared memory. But how does one transform a deeply heterogeneous history into a common history, since there isn't a single history of immigration but, on the contrary, several histories? Herein lies the ambiguity of the museum's concept. This article attempts to study how the museum means to express these multiple and painful pasts to attempt to understand the constructive dynamic and the limits of a public policy concerned with memory.