The author of several graphic novels, survivor of the attacks in Paris in 2015, ended his days on Sunday May 5, “devastated by the violence of his traumas”.
He said he never really left the Bataclan pit. Fred Dewilde, 58, ended his life on Sunday, Life for Paris announced on Tuesday, May 7. “Treaked by the violence of his traumas against which he fought tirelessly with such courage, talent and generosity, since that fatal evening of November 13, 2015”writes his family in a text published by the association of victims of the attacks in Paris and Saint-Denis, of which he was a “leading” member.
Trapped in the concert hall riddled with bullets by the three Islamic State terrorists, Fred Dewilde had time neither to escape nor to hide. For two hours, physically spared, he waited for the arrival of the police and emergency services, lying on the ground stained with the blood of the victims. “He said a part of him died that night,” continues the press release from his loved ones.
“Memory smuggler”
A medical illustrator by profession, Fred Dewilde was unable to return to his profession, too affected by the effects of his post-traumatic stress. To ward off fate, he will continue to use his drawing talents to tell, through four graphic novels, his psychological wounds and his difficult reconstruction. “Fred the survivor, Fred the victim had become Fred the artist, sublimating suffering at human level, passing on memories for all of us,” still underlines the text of his family, saying “shocked and devastated by the violence with which this sneaky poison spread by the terrorists of November 13, 2015 implacably struck him after more than nine years of fierce resistance.” “They killed him a second time, without any second chance of survival.”
Fred Dewilde was the father of three children. Those who met him remember“a colossus in teddy bear areas”, “a big dad […] with a big heart“, “with immense arms And “wide open in which every bleeding heart found comfort”. “Fred was a huge paradox. His drawings were very black, although he was a very luminous being.testifies to Release Arthur Dénouveaux, president of Life for Paris.
“Impossible tranquility”
Involved in the Life for Paris association, he actively participated in meetings organized in schools, to maintain the memory of the attacks and raise awareness among young people about their devastating consequences. “We all have the impression that since death accompanies us we know how to keep it at bay, but ultimately, we realize again that this is not the case.regrets Arthur Dénouveaux, who evokes “impossible tranquility” victims of terrorism.
When he passed away, Fred Dewilde, who considered himself more as a “survivor” as a “survivor”, can be considered the 133rd victim of the November 13 attacks. He is the third to have killed himself. In his latest work, Death stir (Editions 13 en vie, 2022), he wrote: “I search every day for the life that this 13th took from me. I am naked, half killed, lost in my own life.”
