Death of Mireille Knoll: a "little bit of sweet woman", killed with stabs and burned

"Warm", "sparkling", "benevolent", the same laudatory terms turned this Thursday at the Assises de Paris to describe Mireille Knoll, "little bit of sweet woman" of 85 years and Jewish confession, killed with stabs thenburned, March 23, 2018, in his Parisian apartment.

On the third day of the trial of her two alleged murderers, Yacine Mihoub, 32, and Alex Carrimaacus, 25, the atmosphere was almost joyful at the evocation of Mireille Knoll, his way so "endearing to brighten up the life ofhis entourage "and to see" life all in pink ".

His was however "a singular life crossed by dramas", summarizes the president of the courtyard.Her parents first.His father, tailor, born in Ukraine and holder of a Brazilian passport because he had had a time there there.His mother, housewife from Poland.Both had fled the pogroms and found refuge in France.Born in 1932, the child is happy, the "warm home", says the personality investigator.Until 1941 when the father, "foreseeing an imminent danger" for the Jews, left in free zone with his son, Mireille's brother.A year of painful separation for "the little princess of the family".In July 1942, Mireille managed to run away from Paris with her mother, "the day she learned that the Vel d 'Vel d'Hiv takes place", the greatest arrest of Jews in the country during the Second World War.

The family, again reunited, will live in Portugal, then in Canada, before a return to France where the parents must fight to collect their accommodation in the Marais in Paris, squatted by the concierge.Then at 16, "the pretty little flirtatious and joyful brunette" meets Kurt, grew up in Austria and survivor of Auschwitz.A camp period whose father will say "nothing to his children", which "we have suffered enormously", testifies Daniel Knoll, one of the sons of Mireille, moved to the evocation of that which he calls "aangel".

Mireille was a "very loving mother", as described by the personality investigation.She was also a flirtatious woman, dynamic and eager for outings, like her twenty -year -old friend, Renée Jean, with a colorful testimony.Leather jacket, golden creoles and spurred eyelids, the 85 -year -old friend evokes cinemas, restaurants and then car trips with "Daniel", the love of Mireille since she was 72 years old, met in Venice duringof a trip organized by the Paris City Hall.He too was a survivor of the death camps, and his death in 2017 affected the old lady enormously.

"Nothing to fly with mom"

There is also talk of the Court of his respect for Jewish traditions and festivals.Then income from the one who worked very little time, as a lodge, and had lived since the late 1950s in a social housing of 55 m² in the eastern Parisian.It was there that the firefighters discovered the body of the old sick lady from Parkinson, stabbed 11 times and partly calcined.

The question of the anti -Semitic character of his murder is at the heart of the trial.Alex Carrimaacus says he was called by Yacine Mouhib for a "Thuna plan" to join him at the victim.The second accuses the first of having asked if Ms. Knoll was "armored".

Mireille had "800 euros in income, APL (personalized housing aid) included," says her son Daniel."When you came, she gave her credit card to do little races and withdraw 30-40 euros".And to add, without a look for the accused Yacine Mihoub, head down in the box, the one he calls "the monster": "He has known her since the age of eight", his mother living in the samebuilding that Mrs Knoll."He knows very well that there is nothing to fly at Maman.I don't understand, "says the son.

Evoking the fire of the place of the crime and the body, he slides: "Imagine, the fire, for us it makes you think of the concentration camp".His sons like others had warned Mireille Knoll against Yacine Mihoub, imprisoned and condemned many times.But she cultivated affection for those who had rendered her small services.And above all, said her son, "she did what she wanted".