The Note-Book of an Attaché: Seven Months in the War Zone — John Shaqi
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
By three o'clock we had so systematized the work of handling the
Germans that I found I could, with the aid of two assistants, attend
to all the routine cases myself. This released the men at the other
tables to reinforce the American office on the floor above, whose
business had during the afternoon greatly increased. There was no
means or time for estimating in advance just how many people could be
crowded into the Lycée Condorcet, so I continued during the afternoon
to issue certificates of admission to all the Germans whom I examined.
On receiving their certificates most of them went at once to the
Lycée to get off the streets. By six o'clock the place was so crowded
that not another person could find room even to sit on the floor;
therefore the late arrivals, after having wearily trudged two long
miles from the Embassy to the Lycée, had to trudge back again from the
Lycée to the Embassy. By eight o'clock there were nearly a hundred of
these refugees huddled around the _Chancellerie_ and it was late in
the evening before I, by most desperate efforts, succeeded in making
arrangements for them for the night.
The French police have promulgated a regulation that all Germans now
in Paris are to be shut up in detention camps. They are ordered to
report immediately to the nearest police station, where they will
receive written notifications of the camps to which they have been
assigned, and of the date of their departure. The detention camps are
twelve in number and are located at Limoges, Gueret, Cahors, Libourne,
Périgueux, Saintes, Le Blanc, La Roche-sur-Yon, Chateauroux, Saumur,
Anger, and Flers. Several large trainloads will be shipped away from
Paris each day for the next two weeks. Exceptions to this edict are to
be made only in the case of Alsatians, and of those sick Germans who
are possessors of a certificate from some French physician stating
that they are too ill to endure transportation.
The frightened Germans find it difficult to understand the numerous
details involved in this order, and are hopelessly confused by the
various official papers they are required to obtain to safeguard them
against the accusation of being spies. The Embassy endeavors to keep
itself informed as to the latest police enactments, and these are
clearly and courteously explained to all the Germans who apply to the
Embassy for counsel or assistance.
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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