Arnaud Beltrame

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Arnaud Beltrame (2018)

Arnaud Jean-Georges Beltrame (born April 18, 1973 in Étampes ; † March 24, 2018 in Carcassonne ) was an officer in the French national gendarmerie and deputy commandant ( Officier adjoint de commandement - OAC) of the gendarmerie group in the Aude department . He gained international fame after voluntarily exchanging himself for a hostage during an Islamist-motivated hostage-taking in Trèbes and shortly thereafter being killed by the assassin.

Career in the military and gendarmerie

Beltrame began his military career with the preparatory class at the military academy Lycée militaire de Saint-Cyr . He left the academy in 1999 as the best of the year. Arnaud Beltrame's fighting spirit was already highlighted there by his trainers. His instructors described him as someone who never gave up. After completing his training, he was transferred from 2002 to 2006 to an escadron (sub-unit) of the armored mobile gendarmerie group of Versailles - Satory . There he commanded a train from VBRG ( Véhicule blindé à roues de la Gendarmerie - armored vehicles ).

In 2003 Beltrame was accepted into the GSIGN ( Groupement de sécurité et d'intervention de la Gendarmerie nationale ), a special unit of the gendarmerie with a focus on the fight against terrorism. Two years later he was commanded to serve in Iraq . In 2005 he was awarded the Croix de la Valeur militaire for his services abroad and was praised in the brigade order. On August 1, 2005, he was promoted to Capitaine after he was able to rescue a French national during an operation in Iraq that year. From 2010 to 2014 he headed the Avranches gendarmerie .

In 2015 he attended the European School for Information Systems in Versailles ( L'École européenne d'intelligence économique (EEIE)), where he graduated as a business IT specialist in 2016 . On November 27, 2015, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel . He was posthumously promoted to colonel on March 28, 2018 .

According to the daily La Dépêche du Midi, Arnaud Beltrame, together with the prefecture and the local fire department in Carcassonne, organized an anti-terrorist exercise on December 14, 2017 : an attack on a supermarket was simulated.

death

In the attack in Carcassonne and Trèbes , the 26-year-old perpetrator Radouane Lakdim shot the occupants of a car in Carcassonne on the morning of March 23, 2018 . He killed the passenger with a shot in the head and injured the driver. A short time later, he shot a group of police officers from the Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité and injured one of them. Then he drove to nearby Trèbes , robbed a Super U supermarket , holed up and took hostages. In the supermarket, he shot the meat seller and another person. Most of the store's customers and employees managed to escape.

Arnaud Beltrame offered himself as an exchange for the last remaining hostage. He left his phone with an active connection on a table in the supermarket. So the forces outside the supermarket could hear what was going on inside the building. Beltrame was left alone with the terrorist. Around noon, Lakdim shot his hostage. As a result, GIGN specialists from the National Gendarmerie stormed the supermarket. The hostage-taker was shot in the following shooting.

After the liberation of the supermarket, Beltrame was transferred to a hospital with life-threatening stab and gunshot wounds. It was clear to the doctors at this point that Beltrame would not survive. At the request of Beltrame and his wife, Marielle Vandenbunder, Father Jean-Baptiste, who was to church the couple in June, was brought in. The clergyman gave the anointing of the sick to the dying man .

According to the autopsy report , Beltrame died on March 24th as a result of the cuts in the throat .

Appreciations

The rue du Colonel Arnaud Beltrame in Evreux .

President Emmanuel Macron announced on March 24, 2018 that Lieutenant-Colonel Beltrame would receive a national honor. Interior Minister Gerard Collomb spoke of Beltrame's bravery and heroism. The French flags and banners of the gendarmerie and the National Assembly were raised at half mast .

In a tweet on March 25, 2018, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, wrote : "France honors a great hero."

On March 26, 2018, Pope Francis said he “particularly honors the generous and heroic gesture of Lieutenant Colonel Arnaud Beltrame, who gave his life to protect the people.”

On March 28, 2018, Beltrame was honored with a state ceremony and military honors in the courtyard of the Hôtel des Invalides , after his coffin had previously been laid out in the Panthéon . The state ceremony was attended by President Macron, members of the armed forces, politicians and guests of honor. After his speech, Macron posthumously promoted Beltrame to colonel of the gendarmerie and awarded him the Commander's Cross of the Legion of Honor .

In an eulogy at the coffin, President Macron said:

"Wanting to die so that innocent people can go on living, that is the heart of a soldier's promise."

Shortly after the death of her son, his mother said on the RTL radio station :

“I only know Arnaud as so loyal, brave, unselfish. Since he was very little, he was there for others. He often said: my fatherland comes before the family. "

Your son would not have wanted you to remain inactive. If she speaks now, according to his mother, then only, “[...] so that his deed leads to us becoming a little more human, a little more tolerant. For a better world […]."

Private life

Beltrame was interested in the history of France and the Christian roots of French culture.

Since August 2016, Beltrame was officially married to a veterinarian. The couple were childless. From the age of 33 he practiced the Catholic faith and received his communion and confirmation in 2008 .

Arnaud Beltrame had been a Freemason since 2008 . His lodge Jérôme Bonaparte , which is constituted under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge Grande Loge de France , has its seat in Rueil-Malmaison - Nanterre . In his press release, Grand Master Philipp Charuel called Beltrame a hero.

Orders and decorations

Posthumously were awarded Beltrame following honors:

  • Legion Honneur Commandeur ribbon.svgCommander of the Legion of Honor - 2018
  • Medaille de la Gendarmerie Nationale ribbon.svg Médaille de la Gendarmerie nationale - 2018
  • Medal d'honneur pour actes de courage et de devouement Or ribbon.svg Médaille d'honneur pour acte de courage et de devouement - 2018
  • Médaille de la sécurité intérieure (France) échelon or.png Médaille de la sécurité intérieure - 2018

Web links

Commons : Arnaud Beltrame  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Arnaud Beltrame, la vocation d'un héros. In: La Dépêche du Midi , March 25, 2018. Retrieved March 28, 2018 (French).
  2. ↑ Décision du 27 November 2015 portant inscription au tableau d'avancement pour l'année 2016 (armée active). In: Journal officiel de la République française , No. 286, December 10, 2015, ISSN  1270-5969 (French; full text [accessed on March 28, 2018]).
  3. ^ Éléonore De Marnhac: Attaques dans l'Aude: Arnaud Beltrame promu au grade de colonel à titre posthume. In: rtl.fr , March 27, 2018. Retrieved March 28, 2018 (French).
  4. ↑ Claire Raynaud: Quand Arnaud Beltrame, le gendarme héroïque, dirigeait une simulation d'attentat dans un supermarché ... - Attentats de Trèbes et de Carcassonne . In: ladepeche.fr , March 23, 2018, accessed on March 29, 2018 (French).
  5. ↑ Dead in hostage-taking in supermarket. In: Spiegel Online . March 23, 2018, accessed March 23, 2018 .
  6. ^ Hostage-taking in France: police shoot hostage-takers. In: Zeit Online. March 23, 2018, accessed March 23, 2018 .
  7. ↑ With great sympathy. In: Domradio . March 29, 2018, accessed April 12, 2018 .
  8. ↑ Assassination attempt in l'Aude: le gendarme Arnaud Beltrame est mort poignardé au cou . March 25, 2018.
  9. ^ Walter Sanchez Silva: Arnauld Beltrame: The story of a Catholic hero. In: Catholic News Agency. March 27, 2018, accessed March 28, 2018 .
  10. ↑ BBC News: Trèbes attack Paris ceremony for hero policeman Arnaud Beltrame. In: BBC . March 28, 2018, accessed March 29, 2018 .
  11. ^ A b Marcel Wagner: Mourning Act in Paris Farewell to Arnaud Beltrame. In: Deutschlandfunk . March 28, 2018. Retrieved March 28, 2018 .
  12. ↑ a b Police officer who swapped places with hostage was a practicing Catholic. In: The Catholic Herald . March 25, 2018, accessed March 28, 2018 .
  13. ^ Statement of the Grand Lodge of France on the death of Gendarme Arnaud Beltrame. In: freimaurer-wuppertal.de. March 26, 2018, accessed March 28, 2018 .
  14. ↑ Philippe Charuel: Communiqué de press en hommage au frère de la GLDF, le lieutenant-colonel Arnaud Beltrame. Press release from the Grande Loge de France. In: gdlf.org. March 24, 2018, accessed March 28, 2018 (French).
  15. ^ François Koch: Beltrame, frère GLDF, tué par un terroriste. In: lexpress.fr. March 24, 2018, accessed March 28, 2018 (French).
  16. ^ Anthony Berthelier: Arnaud Beltrame est mort: de la sécurité de l'Élysée à l'Irak, le parcours du "héros" de Trèbes. In: huffingtonpost.fr. March 24, 2018, accessed March 28, 2018 (French).
  17. ^ L'hommage intégral du général Lizurey au lieutenant-colonel Arnaud Beltrame. (No longer available online.) In: L'Essor. March 24, 2018, archived from the original on March 28, 2018 ; accessed on March 28, 2018 (French).
  18. ↑ Décret du 4 may 2012 portant promotion et nomination. In: Journal officiel de la République française , No. 106, May 4, 2012, ISSN  1270-5969 (French; full text [accessed on March 28, 2018]).
  19. ↑ La German sports badge on DSA France
  20. ↑ a b c Homage to Arnaud Beltrame: une veillée pour ses "frères d'armes" avant un éloge de Macron aux Invalides, mercredi. In: europe1.fr. March 27, 2018, accessed March 28, 2018 (French).
personal data
SURNAME Beltrame, Arnaud
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Beltrame, Arnaud Jean-Georges (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French gendarmerie officer
DATE OF BIRTH April 18, 1973
PLACE OF BIRTH Etampes
DATE OF DEATH March 24, 2018
Place of death Carcassonne