With a gesture as elegant as her silhouette and the features of her face, Karine wipes the tear which runs down her cheek. The wind is blowing strong squalls in the Hautes-Bruyères park, in Villejuif, this Thursday morning. The atmosphere is freezing. Suddenly, Karine’s gaze freezes when the authorities unveil in front of her the stele installed in memory of Janusz Michalski, her husband, on this National Day of Homage to the Victims of Terrorism.
On January 3, 2020, Janusz and Karine, two inhabitants of Villejuif, were walking in the Hautes-Bruyères park when, suddenly, an assailant in a djellaba armed with a knife appeared and began to hit passers-by at random. Janusz, 56, is stabbed while protecting his wife. He succumbs quickly despite the heart massage of Frédéric, a municipal police officer who arrived first on the scene with his colleague Patrick. The latter makes a point of compression to Karine, 47, injured in the throat. Nathan C., the assailant, was shot dead by police officers from the Kremlin-Bicêtre BAC shortly after as he was heading towards the Carrefour supermarket in L’Haÿ-les-Roses.
“In the wrong place, at the wrong time”
Karine had never testified until now. Thursday, she agreed to confide in our newspaper, with modesty and sincerity, supported by the family of Aurélie Châtelain who was also invited to the ceremony organized by the department of Val-de-Marne and the town hall.
Their daughter was murdered in Villejuif by Sid-Ahmed Ghlam in 2015 while he was planning an attack on a church in the town on behalf of the Islamic State group. The terrorist was sentenced in November to life imprisonment with a 22-year safety sentence.
“We were there in the wrong place, at the wrong time,” Karine tells Aurélie Châtelain’s family. I believe that the probability of winning the lottery was greater. “
Karine had known Janusz “at the age of 22”, she specifies, that is to say twenty-six years of relationship, love, passion. “He was my soul mate. I admired him. He was a deeply good person. I liked his background, the way he behaved with others. “
“I have so much love for Janusz that I have no anger”
The forty-something still lives in Villejuif, in their pretty house. She tries to go up the slope little by little, but the pain is extremely sharp. “It’s very hard for her,” confided her parents, helpless. “It’s complicated, confirms Karine. And the Covid lockdowns haven’t helped. But I don’t feel any hatred. In fact, I have so much love for Janusz that I don’t have anger, it just can’t get inside me. “
Aurélie Châtelain’s family surrounds him: “Your attacker is dead. For us, unfortunately, it is still there. And we just had him in front of us for five weeks this winter for his trial. It was horrible. It’s been six years since Aurélie left. Since then, we don’t live, we survive. But you have to… ”
“I don’t want people to forget my husband”
Karine appreciates the tribute paid by the authorities through this stele and this ceremony: “I don’t want my husband to be forgotten. “She had however initially declined the idea of a monument in her memory:” The former mayor asked me if I wanted a stele. I had refused. For me, a stele is a mortuary. Then things changed. On January 3, I came to collect myself. The park staff saw me, they let the town hall know who contacted me to find out if I wanted there to be something to celebrate his memory.
I thought about planting a tree with a bench on which would be inscribed a message from Gandhi. Janusz was very fond of Gandhi. Then, during the first confinement, I wanted to tag the walls of my house. I then discovered the work of the artist C215. The town hall reminded me: “Have you thought about it? For information, C215 expressed the wish to create something for Janusz. It immediately stuck: we were going to create a stele with the portrait of Janusz painted by C215. “
The public now has a place to remember this January 3, 2020 forever by immersing themselves in the gentle and serene face of Janusz Michalski.
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