Gwladys Laffitte 8:10 am, October 19, 2021

They met in obviously special circumstances, on November 13, 2015, at the Bataclan.

Almost six years later, David Fritz-Goeppinger and Stéphane Toutlouyan have become friends and together face the trial of the attacks, both "addictive" and "dramatic".

On Europe 1, they tell their unique story.

TESTIMONY

The fourth week of testimonies from victims and survivors of the attacks began Monday at the November 13 trial in Paris. For three weeks, the survivors of the Bataclan have been telling their ordeal, which has sometimes been positive. This is the case of this beautiful story of two friends who call each other the "soups", contraction of friends and hostages. For long hours, David Fritz-Goeppinger and Stéphane Toutlouyan were part of the dozen spectators taken hostage by two of the Bataclan terrorists. They didn't know each other, but they have since become very good friends. 

"I meet Stéphane during the hostage-taking at the Bataclan", remembers David, 29, who is due to tell the court on Tuesday what he went through.

“I remember when I saw him, telling myself there's a guy in a suit. That's one of the things behind me that made me look for him. 'But it's who this guy in a suit at a rock concert? '

Did you wear your cap that night? ”He asks Stéphane, 54 years old.

"No, I was just getting out of work," replies the 50-year-old.

"I dunno, you have your hat on all the time now."

"Yes, but not when I go to work!" 

"We first touched before seeing each other"

Between the two, the complicity was born somewhere in the Parisian concert hall, this evening of November 2015. "We first touched each other before seeing each other since when we arrive in the corridor, David takes my hand and tells me 'it's going to be fine' ", rewinds Stéphane.

"I was actually like 'how can I spend two and a half hours next to someone without touching them?'

I wondered if he had a family, what he did for a living. I wanted to get closer to the human ", explains David. 

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 The outcome of the evening will be positive for the two hostages, released after the assault.

"In the process, I needed to find people who had experienced the same thing because it was so not credible that I had to exchange with these hostages", says Stéphane, who speaks of this group " as of a family "formed by" the power of what unites us ".

"We do not need to give proof of this love because ultimately, it is a little more than friendship", loose the ex-hostage.

A "positive" aspect to the trial

What about this friendship almost six years later? "Today, we 'moved on' vis-à-vis the event. We have a very strong friendship," says David. Bonds strengthened by the common passion of the two ex-hostages, namely "rock'n'roll and live", the friends being fans of the group Eagles of Death Metal, which was playing that evening.

This Tuesday, David will therefore have to tell what he saw and lived on November 13, 2015. This stress, these meetings, this liberation of having left the Bataclan unharmed.

For Stéphane, this judicial sequence is special: "This trial, it is addictive because we find people with whom we share a lot of things and therefore we want to see them, to be next to them, to discuss with them. At the same time, the context is a bit particular, a bit dramatic. There is still this rather positive aspect. In any case, I perceive it like that. "

What is important for David?

"Knowing that I'm not standing alone in the courtroom. I know he's there."