July 1, 19431: I was joining the Observatory of Haute-Provence. I was full of emotions and feelings, which certainly had, in a very subtle way, an influence on my scientific life. It was the beginning of an illegal life. I had a complete set of papers (false papers), identity card, food card, and most important the Carte du Service du Travail Obligatoire (the government of Pierre Laval in Vichy had negotiated an agreement with the German Government: boys born between1920 and 1922 had to go to work in Germany), with the notation “trente-quatre mois de captivité.”2 When I went to Digne a few days later to meet my young wife Ruth who was coming from Nice, these papers demonstrated their validity.Just as I got off the bus, I had an identity check by a gendarme3 and he let me go without any problem. I learned much later (after the liberation) that the gendarmerie in this part of France was closely connected with the resistance movement. Did the gendarme simply feel comfortable seeing a young man,who was of an age to work in Germany, carrying the proof that he was exempted from this kind of constraint, or was he connected with the resistance movement and supporting illegal activities? I shall never know.
Evry Schatzmann’s autobiographical entry from the 1996 Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics
1It is impossible to follow the chronological order! The logic of things has determined the presentation of the biography.
2Prisoner thirty-four months.
3There are three kinds of police in France: the national police, which is under the orders of the Interior Ministry; the city police, which in all big cities is under the orders of the city council; and in the countryside, the gendarmerie, which is a special part of the national army.
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