Perhaps this was inevitable.
November 18, 2022 12:57 PM Subscribe
Mehran Karimi Nasseri, who famously spent eighteen years living in Charles de Gaulle airport before leaving in 2006, died of a heart attack last Saturday... at Charles de Gaulle airport.
Nasseri (previously, in the first link) was one of the most well-known largely anonymous people in the modern era; few knew his name, but many knew, "Hey you know there's been a guy living in an airport in France for n years?" He left his native Iran in 1977 and alleged he had been expelled although subsequent investigation did not confirm this.
In 1988, he was travelling from Paris to London but he was returned to France when he failed to present a passport to British immigration officials (he said his travel documents had been stolen). At the French airport he was unable to prove his identity or refugee status and so was detained at the waiting area for travelers without papers. He soon relocated to a red bench in Terminal 1. There he remained for the following eighteen years; first because of a lack of options then later, apparently, by choice. He was eventually granted residence in both Belgium and France but he apparently did not sign the papers. Accounts vary as to why: some state that he claimed he had a British mother and wanted to settle in the UK, while others believe that he had grown acclimatized to life in the airport and was reluctant to leave.
He was by all accounts a popular figure with the workers and air passengers there: the New York Times notes that "Airport employees would routinely give him their meal coupons, and flight attendants would give him toiletries left over by first-class passengers," while "His residence there appeared to depend on the kindness of strangers. People who heard his story sent him money in the mail. A traveler once gave him a sleeping bag and a camping mattress."
After he was eventually freed from his bureaucratic limbo he still chose not to leave. Doctors worried about his mental health and an airport employee friend compared him to an institutionalized prisoner, incapable of living on the outside. He was hospitalized in 2006 and airport authorities dismantled his living space. He was subsequently known at one point to be living in a Paris shelter and returned to Charles de Gaulle as a homeless person in September of this year and spent his final few weeks there.
He inspired at least two films (Tombés du ciel, 1993 and The Terminal, 2004) and an opera (Flight, 1998). Nasseri's autobiography, The Terminal Man, was published in 2004.
Nasseri (previously, in the first link) was one of the most well-known largely anonymous people in the modern era; few knew his name, but many knew, "Hey you know there's been a guy living in an airport in France for n years?" He left his native Iran in 1977 and alleged he had been expelled although subsequent investigation did not confirm this.
In 1988, he was travelling from Paris to London but he was returned to France when he failed to present a passport to British immigration officials (he said his travel documents had been stolen). At the French airport he was unable to prove his identity or refugee status and so was detained at the waiting area for travelers without papers. He soon relocated to a red bench in Terminal 1. There he remained for the following eighteen years; first because of a lack of options then later, apparently, by choice. He was eventually granted residence in both Belgium and France but he apparently did not sign the papers. Accounts vary as to why: some state that he claimed he had a British mother and wanted to settle in the UK, while others believe that he had grown acclimatized to life in the airport and was reluctant to leave.
He was by all accounts a popular figure with the workers and air passengers there: the New York Times notes that "Airport employees would routinely give him their meal coupons, and flight attendants would give him toiletries left over by first-class passengers," while "His residence there appeared to depend on the kindness of strangers. People who heard his story sent him money in the mail. A traveler once gave him a sleeping bag and a camping mattress."
After he was eventually freed from his bureaucratic limbo he still chose not to leave. Doctors worried about his mental health and an airport employee friend compared him to an institutionalized prisoner, incapable of living on the outside. He was hospitalized in 2006 and airport authorities dismantled his living space. He was subsequently known at one point to be living in a Paris shelter and returned to Charles de Gaulle as a homeless person in September of this year and spent his final few weeks there.
He inspired at least two films (Tombés du ciel, 1993 and The Terminal, 2004) and an opera (Flight, 1998). Nasseri's autobiography, The Terminal Man, was published in 2004.
"By 1999, France offered him a residency permit. But he continued to live inside the airport until 2006. After leaving the airport, he appeared to struggle to adapt to outside life.
'The reality is that he had psychological problems,' the airport spokesperson said. 'He was a homeless person who was taken care of by the airport community and doctors.'
The spokesperson said that Nasseri had returned to the airport’s 2F Terminal in mid-September, after leaving a care home where he had been staying.
'Many people went to great lengths to have him hospitalized and put into a care home adapted to his needs,' the spokesperson said."
It seems plausible that his psychological problems were at least in part a consequence of his political and legal struggles.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 1:42 PM on November 18, 2022 [10 favorites]
'The reality is that he had psychological problems,' the airport spokesperson said. 'He was a homeless person who was taken care of by the airport community and doctors.'
The spokesperson said that Nasseri had returned to the airport’s 2F Terminal in mid-September, after leaving a care home where he had been staying.
'Many people went to great lengths to have him hospitalized and put into a care home adapted to his needs,' the spokesperson said."
It seems plausible that his psychological problems were at least in part a consequence of his political and legal struggles.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 1:42 PM on November 18, 2022 [10 favorites]
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posted by JoeXIII007 at 2:32 PM on November 18, 2022
posted by JoeXIII007 at 2:32 PM on November 18, 2022
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posted by spinifex23 at 5:30 PM on November 18, 2022
posted by spinifex23 at 5:30 PM on November 18, 2022
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