“We are not going to be silent”: two years after his death, emotion at Samuel-Paty college

Caroline Baudry, edited by Yanis Darras 8:33 p.m., October 17, 2022

Two years after the assassination of Samuel Paty, the emotion is still great in the school environment.

To pay tribute to the history-geography teacher, many tribute ceremonies were organized throughout France, in schools.

In the Samuel-Paty college in Valenton, in Val-de-Marne, the only establishment in France to bear the name of the professor, the week of fraternity began on Monday to honor his memory, in particular with a choir. 

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Remember

Among the singers, Enzo, 11, closes his eyes when he sings, carried away by the voice of his teacher and that of his classmates.

"I don't really know how to explain it, but I think it was important to honor it", explains the young schoolboy at the microphone of Europe 1. 

Remembering is the will of his little comrades.

Among them, Nizam and Judith remember the misunderstanding on the day of the tragedy, and the long minutes of silence that followed the attack.

"Samuel Paty just showed a caricature to show that in life, well, it exists. He just did his job", underline the two students. 

"What drives us are our values"

"We are not going to be silent," explains Stéphane Digan, music teacher at Samuel-Paty college, who wrote the lyrics to sing the values ​​of the Republic and pay tribute to his massacred colleague.

"No matter what happens, we will not be silent because, what really drives us, are our values: freedom, fraternity, equality and above all secularism. And for these young people, music retains this power. They are receptive to the message," he said. 

The students say they are very proud to study at Collège Samuel-Paty.

Proof of this is that they will present this Thursday, during a ceremony, their hymn to brotherhood.