Survival in WWII, 1933–1944 · Alfred Moritz (alias Mauricet)

Chateauroux (Indre), November 1944

n Châteauroux we proceeded, as instructed, to the Waiting Room—empty except for a female attendant. We sat on a hard wooden bench for some time when, suddenly, two couples entered the room and began to scream, wave their arms and generally behave in a very undignified emotional manner; they were the parents of our nitwit ward.

They took charge of him without so much as an acknowledgment or thanks.

In our two years alone "on the road," we had become self-sufficient, hardened and emotionally tough. For our part, we had learned, the hard way, to always keep our emotions in check and had no patience with such behavior.