November 13, 2015: How France plunged into the horror of the attacks in Saint-Denis, Paris and the Bataclan – Media7
The wound will never heal. 8 years ago, on November 13, France experienced one of the worst attacks on European soil.
The evening was beautiful, gentle, festive, from the Stade de France to the terraces of Paris and even into the balconies of the Bataclan. But a terrorist commando turned this evening into horror. Eight years ago, the attacks of November 13, 2015 caused 131 victims.
Eight years later, the wound is still gaping. A year and a half after the end of the trial, some victims are attempting a slow reconstruction but will it be possible? One of them, David Fritz-Goeppinger, trapped in the hell of the Bataclan, gave a long interview to L’Indépendant. So that neither the survivors nor the missing and their faces are forgotten.
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Detonations at the Stade de France
On November 13, the first attack occurred near the Stade de France, where the French football team hosted Germany in a friendly match. Live, spectators and viewers hear two close detonations but they are far from imagining the terrible fate that awaits 131 people who fell under the bullets of the terrorists that evening.
In front of the gates of the Stade de France, three terrorists had just blown themselves up in what constituted the very first suicide attacks in France.
Another part of the commando then arrived in several streets of the 10th and 11th arrondissements where three individuals machine-gunned cafe and restaurant terraces. Two of them flee, the third blows himself up.
Behind closed doors of horror at the Bataclan
As news of a large-scale attack spreads, it is the Bataclan performance hall that is now targeted.
During this long hostage situation, 90 people were killed while attending the Eagles of Death Metal concert. After opening fire on a harmless crowd, the three jihadists took refuge in a small corridor where they held around ten more people hostage.
Finally, an assault by the police will end the horror and kill the terrorists.
These attacks are the deadliest perpetrated in France and the second in Europe (excluding air attacks), after the 191 deaths in the Madrid attacks of March 11, 2004.
Salah Abdeslam, only member of the commando still alive
On Wednesday June 29, 2022, the Paris Special Assize Court delivered its verdict after 10 months of an extraordinary trial. The only member of the terrorist commando still alive, Salah Abdeslam was sentenced to life imprisonment. During the trial, he explained that he had “given up” on triggering his explosive belt “out of humanity”.
This is only the fifth time that French justice has imposed real life imprisonment on an accused, the previous four having been for perpetrators of crimes against minors.
During this trial, 19 of the 20 defendants were found guilty of all the charges for which they were referred.
This November 13, 2015 remains engraved in all of us as well as the memory of the 131 victims. And in order to keep it as alive as possible, we cannot advise you enough to see and rewatch the documentary by brothers Jules and Gédéon Naudet, “November 13: Fluctuat Nec Mergitur”, available on Netflix. David Fritz-Goeppinger already testifies there in a poignant story.
