Talk:Athénée Palace

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An entry from Athénée Palace appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know? column on 1 March 2006.

[edit] Spy Haven

Even after reading the referenced web page, I don't see why this was such a spy haven. One would expect that to be Berlin, Switzerland or some other locale more central to WWII. Rlevse 16:49, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

Even if it seems to be far away in a forgotten place close to the ends of the world, Bucharest is still in Europe and closer to Vienna than Paris is (for example), and it is the capital of one of the greatest countries in the region. Besides this, during the interwar period, it had quite a lively existance like any other European capital, being ruled by kings from the greatest european royal families - cousins with the kings of England. Also in the inteligence domain, one tries to find the most suitable place for its purposes. Mihai -^talk 17:20, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

Romania's agricultural resources and oil industry made it quite a prize, which Hitler understood well and (to their later chagrin) the British Foreign Office seems to have largely failed to grasp. Carol II kept trying (unsuccessfully) to interest either a Balkan alliance or Britain and (secondarily) France in shoring up Romania to resist the inevitable German onslaught. He failed, utterly, but there were factions within those various countries that were still trying to salvage the situation almost to the end. And, as far as I know, the Athénée Palace was more or less unique in that it seems that virtually all sides settled into the same hotel. - Jmabel | Talk 20:47, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

Thanks! Now I understand. Rlevse 16:51, 8 March 2006 (UTC)