Terror in Paris: owner about the massacre in front of his café (video)

Gregory Reibenberg: “I can’t stop thinking that there were two of us. I came home and if I’m still here, I’m alive. I didn’t get a bullet. I am nothing without my smile. There’s a reason to be alive. You have to give life a smile. If you want things in your life to change for the better, you have to smile. You can smile with scars on your face – it’s not incompatible.”
Grégory Reibenberg is the owner of the brasserie La Belle Équipe in Paris’ 11th arrondissement. On the evening of November 13, 2015, two assassins opened fire on the packed terrace and interior. 20 people are murdered, including Reibenberg’s wife Djamila, the mother of his 11-year-old daughter Tess. She dies in his arms.
Gregory Reibenberg: “20 people died in my café, ten of them were part of my life. Including my daughter’s mother and some very good friends.”
How did you manage your life after the death of your wife?
Gregory Reibenberg: “When you have a child who takes you by the hand and pushes you to keep going without asking yourself too many questions, it’s instinctive. You’re not alone, so you can’t let yourself go. You can’t afford to let yourself go. You are a survivor. There were couples with children where both parents died. I mean we were a couple but my daughter was able to come home. I have obligations. It’s instinctive: you have a child, you’re a survivor, you have to make the best of it and move on, simple as that.
Delivering such a message to my child has been one of the hardest things of my life. It doesn’t get any worse than that. It’s not something you can learn and I wouldn’t wish that experience on anyone. Of course there were difficult moments for Tess, for example at school. But somehow life goes on. I rebuilt La Belle Équipe. I know I got lucky. I am very lucky to be alive. Tess has a father and appreciates that she still has a father.”
What do you think of the assassins?
Gregory Reibenberg: “I’m not interested in them. You know, I don’t think anything. I wish we wouldn’t talk about her. I wish we didn’t see their faces on TV. That we don’t mention their names. When we talk about the Second World War, what are we showing? Fraternity, heroes, the victims. Do we show pictures of Hitler or Himmler with the number of deaths they are responsible for? no Moreover, that is what the terrorists want. Instead of talking about the people who died, we know the names of the killers and their faces. If you want to show pictures, show photos of those who left, who were beautiful and whose memories we should cherish. The others don’t exist. They never existed. You are nothing. They are bullets. That’s all.”
Grégory Reibenberg continues to live and work in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, the center of the attacks of November 13, 2015. That evening, the assassins also murdered at four other crime scenes nearby and at the Stade de France in the suburb of Saint-Denis. A total of 130 people die and 494 are injured. Reibenberg has written a book about his struggle back to life. The dedication reads: “To Tess, in memory of Djamila.”