During the funeral of Dominique Bernard in Arras Cathedral, his wife Isabelle Bernard recalled that her husband “did neither the crowd nor the honors”. Il “loved Flaubert, Stendhal, Baudelaire”. Dominique Bernard also loved music, history and painting. It is therefore a ceremony in his image, very sober which takes place this Sunday at 11 a.m. on a stage installed in front of the Belfry of Arras, one year to the day later his assassination by a radicalized former student in front of the Gambetta-Carnot high school.
Local dance and music groups will perform one after the other for an hour. There will also be poetry readings. A painter will create a work during the tribute. A single speech will be given by the mayor of Arras Frédéric Leturque. Four ministers are participating in the ceremony, but they will not speak: Bruno Retailleau, Minister of the Interior, Anne Genetet, Minister of Education, Didier Migaud, Minister of Justice and Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister of Transition ecological, who left her seat as a member of Parliament for Pas-de-Calais to join the Barnier government.
White roses for victims of terrorism
At the end of the ceremony, the public will be able to place white roses in front of a plaque dedicated to the victims of terrorism. This time of contemplation will take place in music. This ceremony was prepared with Dominique Bernard’s wife, his family, his loved ones, but also with the students and teachers.
“We wanted this time to be on Heroes’ Square, the place where we gathered a year ago, after his assassination,” clarified the mayor of Arras Frédéric Leturque at France Bleu Nord. On October 15, 2023, two days after the attack, 5,000 very affected people attended a moving gathering in absolute silence on the same Heroes’ Square.
The assassination of Dominique Bernard remains a shock and an injury for the residents of the city. Like a year ago, the ceremony will send a strong message. “We are standing, we are here, we will not back down. The Republic is stronger, the French community is stronger”assures Frédéric Leturque. “We resist and we mark the power that culture represents, education as ultimately being the strongest weapon to try to face this type of aggression which, for us, has no right of citizenship, neither in Arras nor elsewhere”asserts the chosen one.
Place des Héros is accessible this Sunday from 9 a.m. An important security system is planned with controls at the entrances.
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