For this new episode of Story Time, jewbuzz gives the floor to Jonathan Chetrit. The principle of the format: let someone tell, in the first person, an event that profoundly marked their life. For Jonathan, that story takes us back to 19 March 2012, in Toulouse.
That morning, his day begins like any other. Waking up, breakfast in the canteen, then morning prayers. A few minutes later, noises the pupils first mistake for firecrackers will turn the school into a crime scene.
His testimony can be watched in full in this episode of Story Time. In this article, we look back at the most powerful moments of his account.
A morning like any other
On 19 March 2012, Jonathan Chetrit is 17. A final-year pupil and boarder at the Ozar Hatorah school in Toulouse, he starts his day without imagining what is about to happen.
He goes down to the canteen for breakfast. The school’s headmaster then arrives by car with his daughter, Myriam Monsonego. Jonathan sees her get out and walk towards the school entrance.
A few minutes later, he heads to the synagogue to begin morning prayers.
“We thought they were firecrackers”
As he takes his tallit out of its bag, shots ring out.
At first, Jonathan and the other pupils think they are firecrackers.
He then looks outside and sees a man dressed in black, wearing a white helmet. He initially takes him for a courier delivering a parcel.
More shots ring out. This time, confusion gives way to fear.
“Suddenly we hear gunshots and we’re all terrified.”
A few seconds to grasp the horror
Behind the glass doors separating him from the courtyard, Jonathan catches sight of Myriam Monsonego.
His memory is quick and fragmented: he sees her standing, then on the ground a few moments later.
A member of the school staff then arrives shouting that there is a gunman in the school and everyone must hide.
Jonathan immediately heads to the synagogue to warn those inside.
The first person he alerts is the headmaster, Myriam’s father. At that moment, Jonathan doesn’t yet know that by warning him, he is leading him to his daughter.
Getting as many pupils out as possible
Around him, younger pupils aged 13 and 14 are trying to work out what to do.
Jonathan knows there is an emergency exit in the synagogue leading to the other side of the school.
He opens that door and urges as many pupils as possible to leave through this exit.
In the panic, one of the boys collapses into his arms.
“He says to me: ‘I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die.’ I look him in the eyes and I tell him: ‘We’re not going to die.’”
At just 17, Jonathan explains that he felt the responsibility to stay strong to reassure the younger ones.
The group then takes refuge in a storeroom in the basement of one of the buildings.
The call to his sister
Hidden in that storeroom, Jonathan takes out his phone. The first person he calls is his sister.
He tells her there is a gunman in the school. At that moment, he doesn’t know whether he will come out of the school alive.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t know what will become of me, but there’s a gunman in the school.”
In Story Time, Jonathan describes that moment as the one when you believe you have to say goodbye to your loved ones, convinced that everything could end at any second.
The gun that jammed
Messages quickly begin to circulate between the pupils hiding in different buildings.
The gunman has reportedly left the school and the police are starting to arrive.
Jonathan would later learn that one of the terrorist’s weapons jammed, which led him to flee.
A malfunction that probably prevented an even heavier toll.
The wait and the first news
As the pupils begin to understand what has just happened, shock gives way to an unbearable wait.
Some have panic attacks. Others cry or try to help the victims.
Jonathan remembers friends whose clothes were covered in blood after trying to resuscitate the victims.
The pupils stay together, pray and hope for good news.
“We were all together, we didn’t let go of each other. We were hoping for one thing only: good news.”
Little by little, however, the doctors come to confirm the deaths.
His school turned into a crime scene
Suffocated by the situation, Jonathan at one point tries to leave the school.
He runs towards the entrance before being caught by a member of the emergency services and brought back inside.
In just a few metres, he discovers a reality he will never forget: the shell casings on the ground, the blood and the bodies still there.
On rue Jules-Dalou, in front of the school, blood runs on the pavement.
“You walk across your playground, where you usually play football or chat with your friends. And now your playground has turned into a crime scene.”
Three hours before being allowed out
The pupils would remain confined in the canteen for nearly three hours before being allowed to leave the school.
Jonathan then walks through this school he knows by heart but which no longer looks like the one he left a few hours earlier.
Outside, he runs into a friend who wasn’t there that morning and is waiting in front of the school.
“It was my first breath of oxygen. My first contact with the outside world, and the first time I really allowed myself to break down.”
An unbreakable bond between former pupils
Fourteen years later, Jonathan explains that the school’s former pupils remain deeply connected.
They shared the same day, the same fear and images that still stay with them today.
“I believe it’s something specific to the Jewish people: always managing to rise again with resilience and always staying united and supportive of one another, even in the worst moments of its history.”
Story Time: giving time to the stories that matter
With Story Time, jewbuzz wants to give a space to those who have lived through events capable of turning a life upside down.
The format deliberately lets the witness speak, without trying to interrupt or overload their account. The aim is to let the memories, the emotions and the words tell the story.
Jonathan Chetrit’s testimony is fully in keeping with this approach: telling what he saw, what he felt, but also what helped him get through that day.
Never forget
On 19 March 2012, four people were murdered at the Ozar Hatorah school in Toulouse: Jonathan Sandler, his sons Gabriel and Arieh, and Myriam Monsonego.
Jonathan’s account tells of the horror of that morning, but also of the unity of the pupils, their solidarity and the way each of them tried to help the other.
Fourteen years after the attack, this new episode of Story Time is also a reminder of why telling these stories remains essential: to pass on the memory and never forget.