An au pair's experience 2 kilometers from the attack in Paris
By Sara Ritsch
Staff Writer
PARIS, FRANCE — An American au pair who we will call Martha Carr as she wishes to remain anonymous was less than two kilometers away from Friday night’s attack in Paris.
Held up in the basement of a bar, she and her friends were bombarded with false reports of assailants running in their direction, death threats, and the fear of losing their lives.
She spent the day traveling from her small town outside of Paris into the city, excited to drink and to meet English and French speakers in her new country. It was a truly colorful and beautiful day.
In the basement of this thick-walled, hundred year old bar, she barely had phone reception. Walking up the stairs for a break, she received her first initial warning—“Be careful if you go out. Shooting in the 10th arrondissement and the shooter is at large.”
Martha returned down the stairs to share the news. Staying updated, she was nervous for their safety. Then came word of the explosions.
“Just a shooting is scary enough as it is. But it was bigger than that,” Martha said. “We decided to stay where we were. The bar stopped serving alcohol – they stopped serving anything. They stayed open for safety.” She paused. “They refused to lock the doors because there were people who were running and needed shelter.”
All public transport was shut down. Her decision was to continue to drink and to try to make jokes. Eventually, the host father of another au pair came to pick up all seven women and they each piled into his car and escaped the area.
“This morning I took the metro at 9 [a.m.]. I rode through the area – there were bodies being pulled out overhead without my knowing – it was the morning. It was time for cleanup. The metro was abandoned and silent.” Martha’s eyes welled with tears on our Facetime call.
“The 10th and 11th arrondissements – they’re for a cheap good time. Young people meet on the street and drink together, make friends, dance. I could have easily been there,” she says. “It’s my favorite area.”
Martha and her friends were the lucky ones. Less than two kilometers away, they missed the carnage. They were out of earshot. But they did not feel safe.
“I could have seen bodies. I could have heard explosions. I could have, but I wasn’t there.”
Just like the Great Generation of WWII will never forget Pearl Harbor, the Baby Boomers will never forget where they were when John F. Kennedy was assassinated, the Millenials will never forget where they were on 9/11, and just like Martha will never forget where she was during Hurricane Katrina—she will never forget where she was on the night of the attack on the Bataclan and the 10th and 11th arrondissements.
But after the hurricane, after the Twin Towers, she was not afraid to go back to New Orleans or to New York. And now she will not be afraid to return to Paris.
“This doesn’t make me want to go home. This could have happened anywhere. And it does. It happens everywhere. All the time.”
The Gayly - 11/14/2015 @ 2:32 p.m. CST