LIBERATED PARIS

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 25013, 2 October 1944, Page 6

LIBERATED PARIS

LIFE BEGINS AGAIN

LUXURIES AVAILABLE LACK OF NECESSITIES (Special Correspondent) (Reed. 8.30 p.m.) PARIS, Oct. 1 " Champagne by candlelight" might be one of the best ways of describing living conditions in Paris at present. This city, with hardly any physical war damage, has many luxuries still available from pre-war years, but at the same time it. lacks many necessities of everyday life.

It is an experience to be remembered, paying a visit to Paris after living in London for all five years of the war and watching it become shabbier, grimier and battered. Well-Dressed Women Everywhere in Paris you see women exquisitely dressed, with taste and personality. 'in shops you can see a very wide range of articles. Every day and night the cafes, bars and night clubs are full. At first sight you might think the Parisians had suffered little from the war. It does not take long to correct this impression. One of the most fascinating things about being in Paris, indeed in any recently liberated country at present, is the conversations you can So readily have with dozens of different people, all of whom have something interesting to relate. With three other war correspondents 1 met a charming woman who invited us all to her home to meet her husband, son and friends. Their stor.v was typical and we listened to it while we sipped champagne by candlelight. This lack of lighting is because Paris has no coal and little electricity, and it has emphasised the case of luxuries and few necessities. Drabness Under Nazis In common with hundreds of other families in Paris, monsieur and inadame had led a dull and monotonous life during the occupation, seldom going out of their home except when necessary. Their chief interest was listening to the English radio. At one period they sheltered one of the leaders of the resistance movement for eight months, months Hvhen every knock at the front door fdled them with tension. As food conditions became worse, it was the same story of those who could afford it buying in the black market and poorer people going without. While they refused to have anything to do with the Germans, it was galling to see some French people driving round m luxurious cars, being feted_ by the Germans at places like Maxim's. The sight of a car driven by a French person made them mutter automatically, "Collaborateur." . . Now all that tension and suspicion has gone and people can come and go as they like and say what they like, an" everv evening they crowd the cafes and dance, talk and begin to live their own lives again.

ARGENTINE ATTITUDE UNITED STATES VIEW INCREASING CONCERN WASHINGTON. Sept, 30 In a statement dealing with United States policy toward Argentina, President Roosevelt said that he had been following closely and with increasing concern the Argentine situation. "This situation," ho said, "presents the extraordinary paradox of a growth of Nazi-Fascist influence and an increasing application of Nazi-Fascist methods in a country of this hemisphere at the very time that those forces of oppression and aggression are drawing ever closer to their hour of final defeat and judgment in Europe and elsewhere in the world. "The paradox," he added, "is accentuated bv the fact, of which we are all aware, that the vast majority of people in Argentina have remained steadfast to their faith in their own free and democratic traditions and in their support of nations and peoples who have been making _ such great sacrifices in the fight against the NaziFascists. This is made clear beyond all doubt by the great spontaneous demonstration' of public feeling in Argentina at the liberation o l ' Paris. The Argentine Government has repudiated its solemn inter-American obligations, on the basis of which the nations of this hemisphere have developed a system of defence to meet the challenge of Axis aggression. "Un less we demonstrate our capacity to develop a tradition of respect for such obligations among civilised nations, there can be little hope for a svstem of international security theoretically to be created to maintain the principles for which peoples are today sacrificing to the limit of their resources, both human and material. "in this connection I subscribe wholeheartedly to the words of Mr Churchill, who said: 'This is not like some of the small wars in the past, where all could be forgotten and forgiven. Nations must be judged by the parts they plav. Not only belligerents but neutrals will find that their positions in the world cannot remain entirely unaffected by the part they have chosen to play in the crisis of the war.'

"I have considered it important to make this statement of the position of the Government of the United States at this time because it has come to my attention that the Nazi radio is beamed to Latin America and the proNazi press of Argentina, as well as to a few irresponsible individuals and groups. This and certain other republics seek to undermine the position of the American republics and our associates among the United Nations by fabricating and circulating a vicious rumour that our counsels are divided on the course of our policy toward the Argentine." A high Argentine Foreign Office official is quoted by the United Press correspondent in Buenos Aires as saying that Argentina's decision to ban Axis criminals was made clear to Washington by the Argentine charge d'affaires, but Washington preferred to ignore the statement. The official added that Argentina's statement had not mentioned the United States because the British was the only United Nations Government which listened to Argentina.

Other Government officials characterised the official United States attitude toward Argentina as "deliberate antagonism."