Death of Samuel Sandler, father and grandfather of three victims of Mohammed Merah

Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: Ludovic MARIN / POOL / AFP 13:27 p.m., January 12, 2024

Samuel Sandler, 77, an emblematic figure in the memory of Mohammed Merah's victims, died on Friday, the president of the Central Consistory Elie Korchia announced on X (ex-Twitter). "It is with great sadness that I learn of the death of my friend Samuel Sandler, who was a mensch and worked tirelessly to keep alive the memory of his son Jonathan and his grandsons Arié and Gabriel, victims of Islamist terrorism," said Elie Korchia, who was also his lawyer.

It is with great sadness that I learn of the death of my friend Samuel Sandler, who was a Mensch and worked tirelessly to keep alive the memory of his son Jonathan and his grandsons Arié and Gabriel,
victims of Islamist terrorism.
May his memory be blessed. pic.twitter.com/pigmkDg6T0

— Elie Korchia (@ElieKorchia) January 12, 2024

On March 19, 2012, Mohammed Merah murdered Jonathan Sandler, a 30-year-old religion teacher, and his sons Arié and Gabriel, aged five and three, outside the Otzar Hatorah school in Toulouse, and then shot dead eight-year-old Myriam Monsonégo, the daughter of the school principal. The 23-year-old radicalised offender, who had killed a total of seven people in a series of jihadist attacks, was killed three days later by the raid.

"A well-known figure in the Jewish community"

"Since this carnage, I have been living under anesthesia, like a ghost. Their absence haunts me," Samuel Sandler said in March 2022, during a tribute to the victims of jihadist attacks. At the time, he said that "the war" against his own people, the Jews, "has never ceased." Samuel Sandler, 77, administrator of the Central Consistory and former president of the Consistory of Versailles, died of a heart attack, Korchia said. "He had become an emblematic figure" in the memory of the victims of these attacks, he told AFP, paying tribute to "a recognized figure of the Jewish community".

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In 2018, this former aeronautical engineer published a book, "Remember Our Children" in memory of the deceased. Tributes were quick to pour in on social media. "His fight to awaken minds to the fight against terrorism will remain an example," said the LR president of the Ile-de-France region Valérie Pécresse, while his counterpart in Auvergne-Rhône Alpes Laurent Wauquiez launched: "Let us never forget that in France, children died because they were Jews."

"A symbol of resilience and dignity"

The prefect of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Julien Charles, expressed his "emotion" while the prefect of Yvelines, Jean-Jacques Brot, paid tribute to his memory. "Samuel Sandler will forever be remembered as a symbol of resilience and dignity," Yvelines MP Karl Olive told X.

Samuel Sandler will forever be remembered as a symbol of resilience and dignity in the face of the cowardly cruelty that befell his family in Toulouse on March 19, 2012.

His struggle and his reason for living was to work to keep alive the memory of his son Jonathan and his family. pic.twitter.com/hwkXzPrKUW

— KARL OLIVE MP (@KARLOLIVE) January 12, 2024

The Chief Rabbi of France Haim Korsia praised the "dignity" and memory of a man he "loved deeply", while the president of Crif Yonathan Arfi paid tribute to his "just and wise words". Having been with him for the past 12 years, I can say that Samy died of grief," said Ariel Goldmann, president of the United Jewish Social Fund (JSF).