Mandel, Paul Reynaud and others were then interned in a
fortress in the unoccupied zone. After they had been there a few weeks the Marshal sent one of his aides-de-camp to inquire after their welfare. This officer first entered the cell of Paul Reynaud, who replied quite politely that after all prison was prison and that he did not desire to accept any favours. He passed on to the cell of another of the interned Ministers, who replied in much the same manner. He then entered the cell of Georges Mandel. Suddenly the silence of the fortress was startled by a yell which must have echoed from Tarbes to Carcassonne. "Monsieur," shouted Mandel in his tremendous voice, "Monsieur, vous etes au service de l'ennetni ! Quittez ma cellule ! " The other interned ministers, each in his separate cell, hearing this great shout of defiance, smiled happily to themselves. It was in such a spirit that Georges Mandel, unbeaten and unbreakable, died at some street corner in Paris between the Sante and the Gare de l'Est.
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