The memory of 13 November is a scientific challenge

It was on a Friday evening, outside the Stade de France, on the bar terraces in the 10^th and 11^th districts in Paris and at the Bataclan that 130 people were killed in the deadliest terrorist attacks that France has ever known. While the entire country, which was plunged into a state of shock, started a long process of mourning, scientists embarked on a vast research project: to analyse the impact of this unprecedented drama on French society in near real time.

And what better way to do this than with a transdisciplinary programme crossing approaches and knowledge? This is the goal of the 13-11 programme, founded just a few days after the attacks by the historian, Denis Peschanski, and the neuropsychologist Francis Eustache. It aims to understand how the memory of such an event is constructed and evolves both individually and collectively. In total, 1,000 people will be interviewed by researchers over ten years about their memories, trauma and experiences of the event. The aim is to write a history of the present, as well as explore the concept of post-traumatic stress that primarily interests neurologists and psychologists.

The scientists are also studying documents rarely used by historians: books of condolence opened the day after the attacks at the town hall in the 10^th district, where more than 1,300 messages were recorded in three months. These messages, like the interviews, reveal emotions, memories, and often nightmares…

How can they be turned into objective data that can be processed by researchers? This is the challenge of this colossal undertaking that we invite you to discover in videos and photos.