On 26th September 2008 a woman for the first time in 19 years, returned to her childhood village of Salomé not far from the city of Lille in northern France. Her name is Ida Beaussart and the circumstances of her life in a house in the village, became the subject of a film called Pleure en Silence (Cry in Silence).
Jean-Claude Beaussart was a violent neo-nazi, who had been convicted and served eight months in prison, for inciting racial hatred in relation to the murder of a Tunisian in 1984. Pleure en Silence, focuses on the last eight days of Jean-Claude Beaussart’s life in July 1989, as the physical attacks he inflicted on his family became more violent. Ida was then 17 years old, and had sustained abuse from her father for years, but it reached the point where she could take no more. Her own survival and that of her mother and siblings were in danger because of her father’s behaviour. It was at this point in July 1989, that Ida took her father’s pistol and shot him dead while he was asleep.
To read the rest of this article visit www.jolyonsreview.co.uk and click on the link to the 'France' page.
