St. Geniès-Bellevue
Autumn 1942, Saint Loup-Camas, France




Bearing false Duchy of Luxemburg papers in the new name of Claire and Louis MESCHLER, both supposedly born in Esch s/Alzette in Luxemburg, our parents found their way to an elegant insane asylum, the Clinique du Docteur Parant in Saint Loup-Camas, near St. Geniès-Bellevue, near Toulouse, in the South of France.

The several dozen inmates consisted of either paying guests hiding from the German occupiers or bona fide inmates from the upper strata of French society. It was understood that they were welcome for as long as their money lasted.

To pass the time, father worked in the vegetable garden and mother was allowed to leave the institution and wander as far as nearby Saint Géniés where she befriended local families for whom she knitted in exchange for extra food and an occasional handful of pipe tobacco for our father.