The Note-Book of an Attaché: Seven Months in the War ZoneWood, Eric Fisher
History
The Note-Book of an Attaché: Seven Months in the War Zone
Wood, Eric Fisher
World War, 1914-1918 -- France -- Paris; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives
This morning the crowd of Germans who thronged to the Embassy was
greatly increased, while the number of Americans was approximately the
same as yesterday; consequently several of the staff were transferred
from work with Americans to work with Germans, I being among them. It
is strenuous business handling these panic-stricken people.
Heretofore, the offices for the naval and military Attachés have been
located on the ground floor of the _Chancellerie_, but in the present
emergency this space is converted into an impromptu German Embassy,
all German affairs being concentrated here, while the Americans are
taken care of on the floor above. We are stationed two by two at desks
ranged along the walls of the entrance hall and we dispose of each
case as rapidly as possible as they are passed to us by the doorman.
All these Germans require four things: food, lodgings, protection, and
proper police papers. We began by doling out to them from one to three
francs each to be used to buy food. Our miserliness was due to the
fact that, under existing economic conditions, even the Embassy could
obtain only a limited amount of change, and it was essential that we
make that go as far as possible. In order to obtain at one and the
same time lodging and protection for our wards, Mr. Herrick arranged
with the French government that the Lycée Condorcet in the Rue du
Havre be set aside for the lodgment of German subjects. This building
is guarded by a squad of police who allow no one to enter who is not
the bearer of a certificate issued by the American Embassy. The Lycée
Condorcet is a great barn of a place, from which nearly all the
furniture has been removed, but it provides for the moment the two
essentials, a roof and safety. No owner of an hotel or apartment will
in these dangerous days harbor Germans, in each of whom he sees a
possible spy, and the government, suddenly called upon to house
thousands of aliens, responds to the appeal of the American Embassy
as best it can. Hundreds of Germans will tonight sleep on the bare
floor of the Lycée Condorcet, and be more thankful for that safe
resting-place than ever they have been for the most comfortable bed or
luxurious apartment.
No attempt was today made to provide Germans with the necessary police
papers. We had indeed no time to consider anything but food, shelter,
and safety. Tomorrow we shall attack that problem.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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