ABSTRACT
In all, there were twenty-three embassies representing all the communist countries except Laos, but including Cuba, Cambodia and Vietnam. Asia was represented by three countries (India, Indonesia and Pakistan), the Arab world by four (Algeria, Egypt, Iraq and Syria) and Africa by Gabon and Zaire. In addition, there were the two trade offices mentioned above, one Palestinian Liberation Organization mission, and a representative of the Paris Chamber of Commerce. The embassies of the communist countries were often large as the staff included representatives of their nationalized industries’ many foreign trade organizations. Other embassies had seldom more than two or three officials. In the early days, the number of resident Westerners was nine in all, and it never exceeded more than thirteen or fourteen, with the occasional addition of a handful of children of nursery school age. Only the Swedish family Sporrong had a slightly older daughter, who was given a place at the East German school and surprised her parents by coming home and singing, ‘Hier marschiert die Volkspolizei und wir marschieren fröhlich mit’ (‘Here march the People’s Police, and we march happily along with them’).
