Annecy: “I acted as any Frenchman would and must act”

“Henri, 24, lover of cathedrals” is his short profile description on social networks. He is one of the heroes of the devastating Thursday when a Syrian injured four small children and two adults with a jackknife, some of them life-threateningly, in the postcard town of Annecy.

A video lasting just a few seconds shows the young man hitting the perpetrator with his backpack. On a second one you can see how he puts his daypack in front of his chest as protection and runs after the perpetrator.

Since the filmed fragments of the day of horror have been making the rounds on social networks, Henri has been the hero of the nation. “All of France says: MERCI,” writes an admirer on Twitter.

The young man’s name is Henri d’Anselme. “Pray for the children, I’m fine,” is his first message after the terrifying morning. Selflessness seems to be his principle. Henri, devout Catholic and former scoutembodies the good that the human soul wants and needs to hold on to when confronted with absolute evil.

Very bad called it Augustine. Even the old Doctor of the Church tried to understand how one thing was connected with the other. And indeed, the good shines all the brighter, the darker the abyss from which it stands out.

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But Henri, the hero of the nation, refuses this role. He is humble. In a television interview, he explains that he hadn’t thought about it at all. “Following my instincts, I just did whatever it took to protect those weaker than me,” “pure innocence, children being attacked.”

Henri d’Anselme, who has just completed his philosophy and management studies, has been traveling in France for two and a half months, on foot, on a grand tour of the cathedrals, for which, as he wrote in advance, he wanted to rely on Providence. “It was no coincidence that I was there,” he says, “I crossed this man’s path on the way of the cathedrals. But I acted as any Frenchman would and must act.”

He dismisses the question of how this cut will change his life. “My life will not change. Before that, I always tried to do good things in my immediate surroundings.”

Journey to the Dilapidated Cathedrals

His pilgrimage began at the end of March in southern France, in the Benediktinerabtei von Barroux, northeast of Avignon, and went over 75 stages to Annecy. He has visited 27 cathedrals, inspected them and literally sung about them in posts on the Internet. He has already covered 1721 kilometers, mostly on foot, only when his knee started to hurt with every climb did he decide to hitchhike longer distances.

His pilgrimage was triggered by a report by the French Senate on the dilapidation of France’s cathedrals. In a portrait given to him the Catholic website Aleteia before the knife attack, he states that his pilgrimage is also an attempt to answer the question of “France’s vocation as the eldest daughter of the Church”.

“What is the meaning of what I do? What drives me? Just hiking? No, that’s enough, I’ve got my dose. The pilgrim has now turned into a fighter,” he wrote a few days before the drama, ending his message with the words: “You are my mission. It drives me to convey this beauty to you.”

Henri is not the only hero of Annecy. Others have also tried to stop the perpetrator, risking their lives to prevent the worst. A childminder threw herself in front of the pram in which her protégé was sitting. Like the toddler, she was also injured.

Gray area between terror and madness

Two gardeners are said to have tried to hit the perpetrator with shovels. Manuel, a 72-year-old Portuguese, also ran after the Syrian, was injured with a knife and, according to the police, was also shot by a police officer who was intended for the perpetrator. There are no films about their courage, they are the invisible, the silent heroes.

On Friday morning Emmanuel Macron flew to Grenoble with his wife Brigitteto support the families and to talk to the doctors at the university hospital where two of the seriously injured children were operated on. In the afternoon, a meeting with Henri d’Anselme was also on the President’s agenda. In France, meanwhile, the heated debate about tightening the asylum and immigration law continues.

The act of a suspected mentally ill is of Marine Le Pen Unexpectedly reserved comments, while the Conservative Group leader responded by saying: “Uncontrolled, massive immigration is killing.” That the man was a recognized fugitive, that he carried a cross and twice shouted “In the name of Jesus Christ” in English during the attack , does not seem to disturb this narrative.

So far, the public prosecutor sees no terrorist motive. But how do you deal with it when a Christian kills in the name of Christ? How about a believer in Christ risking his life to save children from another Christian?

France’s Catholics have not yet stood up to distance themselves from the horror. Das „Not in my name“, which was often sued after Islamist terrorist attacks, rightly did not happen. On this sunny day in Annecy, the gray area between terror and madness has become even more veiled and unfathomable.