A terrorist attack, a gang rape, an earthquake. An assassin’s bullet, a lost plane, a death camp. Horrors that befall humanity come in many forms. How we process tragedy, in the immediate aftermath and over the years, shapes who we become.
Coordinated terror attacks in Paris last month wreaked havoc and fear across the city, even the globe. No site was harder hit than the Bataclan, a celebrated and small concert venue that came under fire and, by night’s end, saw 89 dead. CNN’s Bryony Jones and Wayne Drash weighed in with survivors to recreate how the night and their realities unfolded.
Once young and brimming with hope, Maria entered college a different person than the one who left. She was gang-raped during her freshman year at Florida State University. What happened to her was so heinous that despite her unwillingness, the state pursued charges against her rapists. She survived over the years, but just barely. And after 27 years, she returned to campus with CNN’s Moni Basu — ready to come to terms with the incident that altered her life’s trajectory.
Eric Poppleton was minutes away from flying out of Nepal when the earth began heaving. A short time later, he learned the terrible news: A dear friend and fellow filmmaker he’d been with was now dead. He couldn’t bear to leave Tom Taplin’s body behind. CNN’s Moni Basu and Wayne Drash captured this tale of friendship, an extraordinary act of kindness that emerged from the depths of disaster.
On the night of November 4, 1995, the possibility of Israeli-Palestinian peace gave way to uncertainty and horror. While leading the nation’s largest peace rally, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was shot by a Jewish extremist and, not long after, died. It was a moment that many say changed the course of history. Sometimes CNN’s Jessica Ravitz thinks it also changed the course of her life. She wasn’t alone.
Chandrika Sharma was one of 239 people aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, the airplane that disappeared in March 2014. Without answers about her fate, K.S. Narendran began writing an inner dialogue with his wife of 25 years. He shared those words with CNN’s Moni Basu, who brought his story, his journey, to readers.
Seventy years after the liberation of Auschwitz, CNN shared the stories of survivors of the Nazi concentration camp in a documentary, “Voices of Auschwitz.” Tied to its release, CNN’s Jessica Ravitz set out to show how the experiences of survivors affected — and still affect — the generations that followed.
