October 29, 2020, 8:29 a.m., in Nice. A young Tunisian enters the Basilica of Our Lady of the Assumption armed with a 17 cm blade. He kills three people: the sacristan Vincent Loquès, 55, Simone Barreto Silva, a 44-year-old Franco-Brazilian and Nadine Devillers, who was the first to fall.
This 60-year-old woman from Nice had already recovered several times, after a life marked by hardships. Abused by her nannies, raised in poverty, victim of rape when she was a teenager… She had decided to tell her story in memories. A year after this attack, her husband, Joeffrey Devillers, had them published (Stop doing your Cosette, ed. Hugo doc) “so that she continues to live”.
How did your wife get started in this writing job?
Throughout her life she has had a lot of worries. Three years ago, sort of like therapy, she started putting it down on paper. Everyone encouraged him, told him it would do him good. Two years ago, she asked me for help. She had told me a lot of things but I discovered others. There was material. She wrote over 900 pages [le livre en fait 376]. And she wanted them published. Following this drama, I was contacted by a publishing house and I took the opportunity to make his dream come true.
Does this book also help you in your grieving work?
Even though it’s really his, I kinda feel like he’s our baby. We couldn’t have children. So with him, she will always be present next to me. It’s a way for her to continue living a certain way. It is a duty of memory. And then, I hope this book will help other people to have hope.
Keep hope, was that his credo?
She was a strong woman, very strong. It is the word that returns for all those who knew her. Despite the adversity, she still retained the joy of living. She was also very selfless.
She was a believer and recounts it in the book. And it was in a church that she was murdered …
Nadine believed in a lot of things. She was very spiritual, but above all she was very Catholic, throughout her childhood. We loved Notre-Dame, it is 200 m from our home. She went down there to say a prayer, to put a candle. She had great admiration for the Pope. In a few days, with the other families, I must meet him. It was one of his other dreams.
What do you expect from the upcoming trial?
My lawyer informs me of the sequence of events, but it’s something that I tend to hide a little, because this is all going to take years. I don’t project myself that far. In the meantime, I trust justice. And I live from day to day.
Day of commemoration
This Friday, one year to the day after this attack which claimed the lives of three people, the death knell will sound in all the churches of Nice. And, from 5 p.m., several tribute ceremonies are planned, in the presence of the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin, in front of the basilica. A work by artist Théo Tobiasse, The Dove of Peace, will be unveiled there. After a recital by soprano Elizabeth Vidal (6.15 p.m.), a mass is also scheduled for 7 p.m.