We are beginning to know a little more about the commemorations that will take place for the 10th anniversary of the attacks in Toulouse and Montauban. The President of the Republic will notably be present. Also features a former student of the Ozar Hatorah Jewish school who has just published a book about this terrorist attack. Jonathan Chetrit wrote “Toulouse March 19, 2012, the attack on the Ozar Hatorah school by those who lived through it”. A book where the young man collected the testimony of students, parents, teachers. All tell almost minute by minute the horror of March 19, 2012 when the terrorist Mohamed Merah entered this college and killed.

You wrote this book for 3-year-old Gabriel Sandler, his 5-year-old brother Arié, their father Jonathan Sandler and Myriam Monsonégo who were 8 years old.

It’s for them, of course, so that we can really remember who they were and pay homage to them. Of course, I also wrote this book for us. And when I say for us, it’s for France, but also for the pupils, the witnesses, the victims, whether direct or indirect, to finally give them the opportunity to speak, to tell what they have lived that morning.

You occupied this March 19, 2012, you followed 17 years. You’re hiding in the school reserve?

I was present in the center of the synagogue when the shots first held back. Without first understanding what is actually happening. And the CPE then notified us that a shooter was in a school. At the beginning, it was the only information I had in my possession. I was really in a kind of blur, not really knowing if they were still there or already gone. And so I took the initiative to head to the reserve with a group of students that I accompanied, who were all younger than me. And we hid in this reserve while waiting for an authorization from the police or any authority allowing us to leave this reserve.

And when you leave the reserve, you find yourself with other students. You bang your head against the wall, but don’t remember. Not even today.

It is a very painful moment. This moment that we spend in this refectory where we are confined is a moment that is very painful and which marks a real turning point in the lives of all the students who were present that morning. And I believe the pain was such that our reactions were very violent also sometimes.

Give voice to these students who had never, for some, dared to speak.

This book, do you have the impression that it was a kind of catharsis that the students managed to confide in, which they had not managed to do before?

Absolutely. I felt the urgency on my side to write on this subject. As part of the Duty of Memory, it seemed important to me, ten years later, to be able to highlight this event which, in my opinion, was not sufficiently highlighted at the time it happened. I think the brutality, the violence of this event, but also the fact that this attack was one of the prime ministers in France, finally. In any case, the long series that we then unfortunately experienced unfortunately prevented France from taking the full measure of the gravity of this event. That’s why I absolutely wanted to write this book.

It was also giving a voice to these students, some of whom had never dared to speak because they did not feel not legitimate to do so, because there is always a question of legitimacy when you have experienced such a tragedy. Can we talk about it with his parents? Can we only talk about it with people who have experienced it? Does the question really arise? Some had taken the time to decide, in the end, never to talk about it or in any case, did not feel legitimate to do so before this book.

A commemoration will be organized in Toulouse on March 20, in the presence of Emmanuel Macron, but also of the president, families, many personalities. Will you be there? And is it essential, in your opinion, this ceremony?

I think it is very important to remember their memory and to organize ceremonies every year so as not to forget. I’ll be there. It’s a special time to return to Toulouse every March 19th.

And you also come back, I often believe in Ozar Hatorah, renamed Ohr Torah?

Absolutely. I have got into the habit, in recent years, of going there often, in particular to visit the school director who is always present, but also to see my old friends who still live in Toulouse today. .