Jewish Australian witnesses ‘war zone’
BARRY Mowszowski said he feels lucky to be alive after witnessing horrific scenes during the terror attack in Paris.
BARRY Mowszowski said he feels lucky to be alive after witnessing horrific scenes during the terror attack in Paris.
“When I realised where the attacks were I thought, ‘I was just walking there.’ And it was a sliding doors moment because if I went to restaurants on one side of the street instead of the other, who knows what could have happened,” the 35-year-old from Sydney told The AJN this week.
“It was actually really really scary,” he said.
Mowszowski, who was in France on business, was in his hotel room when he heard sirens and turned on the BBC, which said there had been a shooting in Paris, so he messaged his family to tell them he was okay and went out onto the street.
“There were squadrons of police cars, swat teams coming in vans and it was absolute chaos.”
He quickly realised that this wasn’t just a single incident, and he came to the aid of a group of young people who were stranded and took them back to his hotel room during the attacks.
“None of them knew each other,” he said. “They were having dinner in a nearby restaurant when they heard gunshots so the restaurant owner turned the lights off and asked them to leave. Until 3.30 in the morning, we all huddled in this tiny hotel room watching the news.
“It was a really harrowing experience being with these locals.”
When the crisis came to an end he left his hotel room and went outside to a scene that he can never forget.
“There was a whole triage unit set up and there were corpses on the floor, people with IV drips set up on the floor and it was just horrific.
“It was a war zone in an urban environment and something that will forever be imprinted onto my brain.”
Mowszowski left Paris soon after the attack. “It was a traumatic and profound experience that has changed my life,” he said. “It’s hard to explain to my family and friends, but after the attack when I left to go to London I felt guilty because I was leaving and it’s cowardly to walk away.
“I was craving the ability to join other people who were in the same situation because they have to stay there and live with that and move on with their lives.”
Full Paris coverage in this week’s AJN.
JOSHUA LEVI
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