It is a hand which guides another in the flight, it is a stranger who forms a bulwark of his body, these are words of comfort slipped to a companion in misfortune… Listening to the survivors of the Bataclan testify, it is expose oneself to chilling, terrifying tales. But it is also hearing these moments of humanity, these benevolent gestures which have existed, by the dozen, like an instinctive refusal to be reduced to the animal state. And it is to this, too, that Nicolas and Emilie came to testify this Monday, side by side at the bar of the special assize court, which judges twenty people for the attacks of November 13, 2015.
Pretty Gironde brunette, dressed all in black, Emilie evokes with emotion this little boy, stuck with them in a crowded box after the first shots. "I'm afraid he's running out of air, I take him in my arms, I reassure him until his mother joins us," she says. When a young woman, Clarisse, "our James Bond to us, Nicolas smiles, has the wonderful idea to blow up the false ceiling", it is obvious to everyone that this boy and his mother will have priority to take refuge in the attic .
Nobody doubles, everyone waits their turn, despite the fear that one of the terrorists will flush them out at any time.
Then comes Emilie's turn, who panics and fails to climb once, twice.
"I see that I'm not going to make it, given my size," she sobs.
I don't want to be responsible for their deaths.
She asks that we abandon her, "for the survival of others."
Unanimous refusal.
"This humanity contrasted terribly with the noises we heard downstairs"
Danièle, a survivor of the Bataclan
"There was humanity in this lodge, mutual aid," continues Nicolas.
The one who has just gone up extends his hand to the one who arrives, the people pushing.
When Emilie does not succeed, there is no impatience, only encouragement.
And it is thanks to the encouragement that she ends up getting there.
"
It is this same solidarity which is expressed a few meters away, while around thirty other spectators reach the roof through the window of a storage room. “There was a pregnant woman there, we let her go first, then her husband. This humanity contrasted terribly with the noises we heard downstairs, ”describes Danièle, in her fifties. They will then be collected in the adjoining apartment of a young thirty-something. "We will never thank him, never enough," insists his companion.
Emilie still remembers, moved, this stranger crossed at the exit of the Bataclan, who will embrace her spontaneously.
Of this young girl seen during the concert, whom she will then recognize on television, unharmed - “I am happy to know her alive.
»And this unwavering bond with the survivors, forged thanks to the association Life for Paris.
“It's wonderful and terrible at the same time to love so many people that one would never have been brought to meet otherwise, summarizes Nicolas.
The family of 13 is a large dysfunctional family in which everyone is dented, but we know that we can understand each other and rely on each other, ”he concludes.
