Author Archives: Johann Dax

Postcard to a Friend – 16.12.1917.

I came across this postcard almost by accident. It was sent in December 1917 to Maurice Salmon, a French prisoner of war held at Altengrabow in Germany. There is very little written on it — just a few affectionate words from a friend — but somehow that makes it more moving. A century later, Maurice’sContinue reading “Postcard to a Friend – 16.12.1917.”

The Poet in the Police File

Paul Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud and a gunshot in Brussels On 17 April 1873, the Paris police wanted information about a man named Paul Verlaine. He was twenty-nine years old, had once worked at the Hôtel de Ville, had remained at his post during the Paris Commune, and had recently been moving between France, Belgium andContinue reading “The Poet in the Police File”

The Dance of the Safety Curtain

The Iroquois Theatre Fire, Chicago, 1903 When I go to the theatre — and I visit a few times a year — I have always been irritated by the opening act. Not the actual opening act. The dance of the safety curtain. Down it goes. Up again. Then, sometimes, down once more. There have beenContinue reading “The Dance of the Safety Curtain”

Bath, Michigan: What Remained

On the morning of 18 May 1927, the children of Bath, Michigan, went to school. It was a Wednesday. Bath was a small farming community, the kind of place built from fields, family names and familiar faces. There was a grain elevator and a small drugstore. People knew their neighbours, and most people knew theContinue reading “Bath, Michigan: What Remained”

In the Mud of the Trenches: The Ordinary War of the Poilu

There are photographs of the First World War that show generals, ruined towns, artillery pieces and great moments of history. And then there are photographs like this. Four French soldiers stand in a trench filled with brown water. The mud has climbed the walls, collected around their boots and turned the narrow passage into somethingContinue reading “In the Mud of the Trenches: The Ordinary War of the Poilu”

The Baron at the Prince of Wales Hotel

A Spaniard, a Swiss hotelkeeper, and the question of becoming British On 1 June 1835, a man sitting in the Prince of Wales Hotel in Leicester Place, just off Leicester Square, began a letter. “My Lord, Being desirous of applying to Parliament for an Act of Naturalization…” His name was Baron de Arabet. He hadContinue reading “The Baron at the Prince of Wales Hotel”

Victor Petitbon: Mud, Mushrooms and a Million Kisses.

Victor Petitbon: A War in Postcards Victor Petitbon was born on 8 September 1881 in Monein, in the Basses-Pyrénées. Before the war, he was a tinsmith. His wife, Marcelle — often called Marceline — ran the Café Boy in the rue du Commerce. They had two sons: Émile, known as Millette, and Charles, known asContinue reading “Victor Petitbon: Mud, Mushrooms and a Million Kisses.”

Marcel Paquier

Marcel Raymond Paquier — No. 68387 ​​A railwayman, a war, and the return to ordinary life. Some records announce themselves dramatically. Others begin with a number. 68387. That was how Marcel Raymond Paquier first appeared: not as a soldier, not as a decorated veteran, and not even particularly as a person, but as an employeeContinue reading “Marcel Paquier”