Prisoner Of War
In 1939 Sartre was drafted into the French army, where he served as a meteorologist. He was captured by German troops in 1940 in Padoux,and he spent nine months as a prisoner of war in Nancy and finally in Stalag,Trier, where he wrote his first theatrical piece, Bariona, fils du tonnerre, a drama concerning Christmas. It was during this period of confinement that Sartre read Heidegger's Being and Time, later to become a major influence on his own essay on phenomenological ontology. Because of poor health (he claimed that his poor eyesight and exotropia affected his balance) Sartre was released in April 1941. Given civilian status, he recovered his teaching position at Lycee Pasteur near Paris, settled at the Hotel Misgiven a new position at Lycee Condorcet, replacing a Jewish teacher who had been forbidden to teach by Vichy law.
