A Filing Error Erased France for 47 Hours
20th Century

A Filing Error Erased France for 47 Hours

A civil servant's filing mistake in 1940 left 400,000 people stateless—and laid the legal groundwork for human rights.

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World War IIInternational LawHuman RightsFree FrenchBureaucracyLegal PrecedentStatelessnessForeign OfficeCharles de GaulleUniversal DeclarationBritain

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