On 2019-09-06 09:25, Alois Treindl wrote:
Germany under the Nazis considered them de facto as part of Germany since 1940, but the legal status was undefined - they were not mentioned in the contract with France of 1940.
I think one is safe to assume that the DST regulation for 1944 was de facto valid for these two provinces, as far as they were still in German hands. In our Astrodienst time zone database, I will modify the date given by Shanks from 3 Oct to 2 Oct, for the occupied areas.
The German law does not mention them. It mentions only some eastern areas under German administration.
Yes, the German military doubtless used the time as specified by that decree in their communications. But civil time in the rural regions of Alsatia and Lorraine is a different matter. Railroad time and time at city hall was disseminated from Paris. At the time, it was not so easy to deviate from that time (even if it was only for subtracting one hour) because lots of time tables, deadlines, and office hours were involved. And I do not see a reason why the German military would even try to enforce such a change. Things are different for Strasbourg: most French speaking people had been expelled and the city had formally been included into the German Reich, so they certainly kept German civil time in 1944 until the liberation in November. And there may be other cities near the border (such as Thionville, Colmar, Mulhouse,..) which are similar. Michael Deckers.