Who was Frédéric Boisseau, first victim of the Charlie Hebdo attacks?

Frédéric Boisseau is often described as “the forgotten person of the Charlie Hebdo attacks”. This resident of Villiers-sous-Grez (Seine-et-Marne), was the first to find himself facing terrorists, on the morning of January 7, 2015, at the age of 42. Employed by a maintenance company, this married man and father of two children was at the Charlie Hebdo reception for the first time. He is shot dead by the Kouachi brothers, fell into the arms of Jérémie his colleague before they burst into the newsroom. In Recloses where his family came from and where he was buried, and in Villiers-sous-Grez, the shock was immense.

As proof, there were 600 of them who went to his burial, in the small church of Recloses and the cemetery of Villiers, in the presence of the president of the general council Vincent Éblé, the prefect Jean-Luc Marx and the minister of Labor and job François Rebsamen, who will pronounce this sentence: “ He was in the wrong place, at the wrong time,” before awarding him the Legion of Honor posthumously.

It remains in the memory of the Villarons

“He was someone who was extremely esteemed and appreciated in terms of his kindness and his availability,” testified the mayor of Villiers-sous-Grez, Alain Champion. Highly appreciated locally, he was one of the pillars of the krav-maga section of the Entente Sportive de la Forêt.

His widow, Catherine, agreed five years after the tragedy to confide in our colleagues at Radio France: “It’s violent, we don’t understand, but even today, we don’t understand,” she confided. If I hadn’t had a child, I would have left with him.” The most important thing for her is that “All the people who knew Frédéric have not forgotten him. In my village, he is not forgotten, at each commemoration at the war memorial, there is always a word for him and the main one is there.”

His name is still present on the commemorative plaque located in front of the former premises of the satirical newspaper, first in alphabetical order of the twelve victims.. In Recloses and Villiers-sous-Grez, his name is also engraved near their war memorial, one of the plaques having been fixed on a rock in Recloses, because according to the mayor at the time Catherine Triolet: “He loved walking in the rocks of the forest of Fontainebleau”.

“We paid tribute to him on our communication media,” the current mayor of Villiers-sous-Grez, Thierry Masson, tells us. He remains in the memory of the Villarons, and we pay tribute to him twice a year, during the ceremonies of May 8 and November 11.”

“Fredo” was also on everyone’s mind during the Recloses vow ceremony. Seeing the emotion still alive, there is no doubt: ten years later, his memory is still present.

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