Editing François Mitterrand (section)

===Prisoner of War: 1940–1941===
Mitterrand was near the end of his national service when the war broke out. He fought as an infantry sergeant and was injured and captured by the Germans on 14 June 1940.<ref name=":0" /> He was held prisoner at [[Stalag]] IXA near Ziegenhain (today part of [[Schwalmstadt]], a town near [[Kassel]] in [[Hesse]]). François Mitterrand became involved in the social organisation for the POWs in the camp.{{Citation needed|date=January 2016}} He claims this, and the influence of the people he met there, began to change his political ideas, moving him towards the left.<ref>{{cite book |first=François |last=Mitterrand |title=Mémoires interrompus |editor-first=Odile |editor-last=Jacob | language=fr |date=1996}}</ref> He had two failed escape attempts in March and then November 1941 before he finally escaped on 16 December 1941, returning to France on foot.{{Citation needed|date=December 2012}} In December 1941 he arrived home in the [[zone libre|unoccupied zone]] controlled by the French. With help from a friend{{Citation needed|date=January 2016}} of his mother, he got a job as a mid-level functionary of the [[Vichy France|Vichy government]], looking after the interests of POWs. This was very unusual for an escaped prisoner, and he later claimed to have served as a spy for the [[Free France|Free French Forces]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Mitterrand : une histoire de Français|last=Jean |first=Lacouture |date=1998 |publisher=Editions du Seuil |isbn=9782020307383 |location=Paris|pages=102|oclc=40398759}}</ref>