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So after my last escape and hiding out, I was sent these papers
with a letter of recommendation to join up with a group in the
Rhone Valley, in a little town called St.-Vallier, south of Lyon,
which at the time was a hotbed of Gestapo [secret state police]
activity under the aegis of Klaus Barbie. I joined with that
group in November of 1943, not really knowing what that group
was. To me it was a place where I'm going to go to hide out with
other young people who had run away with other not just young
people, men who had run away, it had nothing to do with children
or women, but when I got there, I knew after a few hours what it
was--speaking to people, who they were, where they come from, and
I realized, I just been sent to a place where we will do illegal
underground activities. What happened in that particular area, or
in this particular camp was mainly instructions--how to circulate
with our papers without being detected. What to say if we were in
a place like a restaurant, and an inspection team came in...a
patrol came in. How to act, act natural, and to never speak
your...let on that you speak the language other than what you
are, [a] Frenchman. Don't fall into traps. And they were teaching
some of us young people certain trades there too, so that the
time should not go entirely...with the knowledge that within some
time, we will be sent to certain areas where they can use our
services.
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