Parked in front of a green gate, a few parents wait for classes to end at the Bois d’Aulne college in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (Yvelines). This is where Samuel Paty, a history and geography professor murdered in October 2020 by a young radicalized Islamist, taught.
A police car discreetly watches over the students. Several teachers exit through an adjacent door. None of them wish to answer AFP’s questions. Almost four years after the murder of the teacher, the memory of the tragedy is still vivid in this town of Yvelines, about twenty kilometers northwest of Paris.
“The city remains marked, naturally”underlines its mayor, Laurent Brosse (Horizons). “It’s not a subject we talk about every day, but there is always a certain apprehension, a certain emotion also as October 16 approaches”adds the city councilor.
Samuel Paty, 47, was stabbed and decapitated by a refugee of Chechen origin who accused him of showing his students caricatures of Mohammed. The assassin had claimed responsibility for his action by congratulating himself on having “avenge the prophet”. As every year since the tragedy, a commemoration will be held on October 16 in Conflans on the Place de la Liberté, where wreaths will be laid in front of a monument in the shape of an open book, erected in homage to the professor.
A tribute paid Monday
At the national level, a minute of silence was organized on Monday in middle and high schools in memory of Samuel Paty and Dominique Bernard, another teacher murdered in 2023 in Arras (Pas-de-Calais) by a radicalized Islamist.
Ahead of the ceremonies, the Bois d’Aulne college and the Conflans municipal council voted to rename the college “Samuel Paty”a decision that the Yvelines departmental council must ratify. “It was a desire on our part to wait until each student who knew Samuel Paty left the establishment in order to be able to rename it”indicates Mr. Brosse, specifying that “this has been the case since September.”
I couldn’t talk to my son for four years
Among families, the wounds remain gaping. For parents, the way to talk about the tragedy within the home continues to be an issue. “I couldn’t speak with my son for four years”confides Corinne Grootaert, whose child was in sixth grade at the time and was taking Mr. Paty’s classes. “I felt that he was absolutely not able to talk about it, even if I felt he was extremely touched”continues Ms. Grootaert, also president of the FCPE parents’ association of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine.
She adds that something clicked recently after a discussion in French class around the graphic novel. “Black pencil” by Valérie Igounet and Guy Le Besnerais, which traces the story of Samuel Paty. Cécile Ribet-Retel did not experience the same difficulties with her daughter, in fifth grade at the time of the events, but deplores the lack of follow-up from National Education.
“There was no consideration of all students”believes the president of the PEEP parents’ association in Conflans, who specifies that her daughter did not benefit from any particular support during the rest of her schooling at college.
A trial in November
From November 12, the trial of eight adults implicated in the murder of Samuel Paty must open before the special assize court of Paris. “We don’t expect much, apart from obviously convictions, but the murderer is no longer there”recalls Corinne Grootaert. The assassin was shot dead by the police shortly after his crime.
Ms. Grootaert, however, hopes “a reflection that goes further than secularism and questions the role of social networks, what it means to wrongly accuse someone by giving their name and college to everyone, including people who want to harm our society”.
The municipality wishes to become a civil party to the trial. Although he recognizes that the approach has little chance of success, the mayor of Conflans considers it essential. “The assassination of Samuel Paty is of course the trauma of the educational community of the college, but also that of a city and all of its inhabitants”he says.
