It was already a year ago. On October 16, 2020, Samuel Paty, professor of history and geography, was assassinated on leaving his college in Bois d’Aulne in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, in the Yvelines. Many tributes will be paid to him this weekend, all over France. The most awaited commemoration is that which will take place on Friday at the college in Bois d’Aulne.
A tragic drama for a year
A few days before the anniversary of the tragedy, the inhabitants of this town of 35,000 inhabitants north-west of Paris, see the subjects on their city parade in the media at the same pace as the journalists in their streets. “She’s a celebrity that we would have done well,” sighs Chantal *, an employee in a bakery in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine.
“This tribute is important. The assassination of Samuel Paty was such a shock for us and we still do not accept that it could have happened ”. In establishments, tributes to SamuelPaty are being prepared …https://t.co/f5KvMmYy1r via 20minutes
– KWin-D20 (@DanceKawine) October 12, 2021
Behind her counter, she describes the atmosphere that reigns in the city as “heavy”: “People don’t talk about it that much, but it is omnipresent. It always comes back through allusions, unspoken, we turn around, but it’s there. While she comments on the news, a few customers abound, they are tired of reliving this drama for a year.
“The wound is not closed”
Franck, a resident of the college, confirms the irritation caused by the repeated mention of events in the “news”: “It’s something we would not have imagined happening here. In Paris, or in nearby towns, maybe but not here. It’s been ch… that we speak of “Conflans” for that. “Behind his glasses, he seems hesitant to tell a truth, before letting go:” The wound is not closed, that’s why people don’t want to talk. “
Around the college, the atmosphere becomes slightly tense with the arrival of a television camera. An elderly woman scrutinizes her as she walks by: “It’s already not tragic enough that you have to go over it. At the same time, an employee of the college, quietly exits through the gate which has been installed since the attack and asks the handful of journalists present to move away a little, at least as far as under the trees located a few meters away. delimit the small “drop-off” place in front of the college entrance, giving some recommendations: “It would be good not to take pictures of the children and not ask them for their first names. “Fatalistic, he knows that he will not be able to prevent everything that is happening around the establishment but confides that everyone aspires to a little peace.
The anniversary plunges the people of Conflan back into drama
A few meters away, in a parking space, Fabienne * leaning on her car, waits for her son, a 4th year student, and approves of what she has just heard: “Tributes are necessary and very good. . But it’s true that sometimes we would like to “get rid of” this story. She says the commemorations bring her son back to a very difficult time. After months of restless sleep, he had managed to calm down during the summer. Even the start of the school year hadn’t disturbed him more than that. “But for the past few days, it’s been talking a lot. At school, on TV, with friends… He started having nightmares again. Julie * also knew nightmares through her daughter, whom she had just dropped off in the school parking lot. She too was present at the college the day Samuel Paty was beheaded: “She is often afraid to come. She no longer feels safe. He was offered to change schools this year, perhaps to change his mind. But her girlfriends are here so she refused. It might be better this way. But that means you have to face all of that. “
At the time of the lunch break, the entrance to the college comes alive. Some children go out to eat, others arrive along the fence that borders a sports field a few dozen meters from the college. A police car regularly passes in front of the establishment before parking and monitoring the exit of classes. Youssef *, backpack well screwed on the shoulders, approaches quietly. Student in 3rd, he was in college at the time of the facts: “We don’t talk too much about that between us. Except when we saw the school on TV at night. Embarrassed, he admits that the subject is a bit taboo among the students. When someone brings up the drama, it can quickly be taken up by a comrade of “we are talking about something else!” “. “We don’t discuss too much what happened to Monsieur Paty, lots of students liked him, but it makes it sad to discuss that. We prefer to talk about his homage, it seems that there will be ministers and prefects (sic). “
“We can never forget it”
Katie *,, also in 3rd, does not bring up the subject either, or not on her own. But she is sometimes forced to do so “when a friend cries”. This does not prevent her from thinking about it often when she comes to college, and from being afraid: “There are many things that remind us of this. Sometimes we see someone waiting in front of the college and we wonder who it is. Why is he here. Sometimes it comes from the teachers. We can see that some are still shocked. “Christophe, a third year student also refuses to talk about the tragedy, except to mention those who pointed out the teacher to his murderer:” There are some that we know. We wonder what will happen to them in the future. It will mark them for life. Today, five former college students are indicted for complicity and will be referred to the Court of Assizes for minors and face twenty years of criminal imprisonment.
The assassination of Samuel Paty will remain engraved in the memory of all those who lived the tragedy from near or far through the college, but the parents questioned hope to be able to “move on to something else” as quickly as possible for their children. “It’s a tragedy, we have to remember it and use it in the future to avoid others. But we would like to appease our children now, ”explains Assa, who comes to pick up her daughter from nursery school in the same street. This is the reason why she is opposed to the idea, proposed by the Yvelines department, of renaming the college in the name of the professor: “It’s too recent. It would be truly sinister for the students who lived through the tragedy. It’s like a statue, it would be creepy. The idea is good, but not now. Everyone must rebuild themselves. Let’s wait a few years. Either way, we can never forget it. “
* First names have been changed