Jean Forest, a retired policeman, learned this summer via an internet site that his daughter Marjolaine had died and been buried the previous spring. Stunned by the lack of information from authorities and the university, he denounces administrative and social indifference. This tragic discovery highlights flaws in communication surrounding deaths.
On June 12, 2025, while on vacation in Brittany, Jean Forest, a retired policeman, decides to check on his daughter Marjolaine without disturbing her by phone. Aged 51 and a doctor in literature, Marjolaine was very busy with her work at the École normale supérieure (ENS) de Lyon, where she was organizing a study day on the Romantic period. Single and suffering from health issues, she was associated with the research laboratory of the Institut d'histoire des représentations et des idées dans les modernités (IHRIM) at Université Lyon-II.
Instead of updates on her projects, Jean Forest encounters an 'In memoriam' page adorned with a chrysanthemum, announcing his daughter's death in a short obituary. 'No one ever called us,' he testifies, expressing his shock. The family had received no notification from administrative authorities or the university, despite the burial in the spring.
Jean Forest then investigated this silence, uncovering a glaring lack of information. He denounces the indifference that deprived his family of support during mourning, highlighting dysfunctions in handling deaths within public and academic institutions in France.