Serge Gainsbourg's forgotten Ukrainian roots
- Posted on February 22, 2026
- By Le Monde
- 5 Views
Serge Gainsbourg's forgotten Ukrainian roots

Serge Gainsbourg described himself as a Russian Jew. More precisely, his musician parents fled Tsarist Ukraine before emigrating to Paris in 1921, escaping pogroms and the Bolsheviks. In Ukraine, where four years of war have fueled an obsession with uncovering traces of the past, some have been trying to rediscover the singer's roots.