Word: francs
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...illegal commercial broadcasts (Belgium's official radio network is state-owned and noncommercial) are nourishing because of a genial conspiracy between the broadcasters and listeners. Handwritten program listings are passed around in country inns, whipped out of sight whenever a stranger appears. For a five-franc (11?) charge, the innkeeper will forward a record request accompanied by a romantic or spiteful message...
Amid shouts of "Vive Petain/" from the audience, Belleval denounced the proceedings as a "dishonor to France," proposed a token bid of one franc for each item on sale, so that the objects might be returned to Petain. The offer was turned down. The indignant audience burst into the Marseillaise. Fifty policemen finally cleared the hall. Once more the Marshal's belongings would gather dust. The old man would scarcely have found use for them, anyway...
Only three months ago, a U.S. dollar would fetch 530 French francs on the black market. Last week, the going rate was down to 330, about the same as the official exchange rate offered to tourists at any bank or hotel. This remarkable strengthening of the French franc was another indication that France's economy, fortified by ERP, was healthier than it had been at any time since...
...Communist Victor Kravchenlco won satisfaction of a sort from the pro-Communist Paris weekly Les Lettres Françaises, which had charged that he never wrote I Chose Freedom and that it was full of lies anyway. Victor sued for three million francs ($10,000). After weeks of lurid courtroom charges and countercharges, the judge ordered the weekly to pay the court a 15,000-franc ($50) fine, pay Kravchenko 150,000 francs ($500) damages, and print the court decision on its front page...
April in Paris. France, always the most popular stopover for Americans, was far gayer and cheaper than Britain, whose pound is stubbornly pegged at $4.03. Two months ago the franc hit an alltime high of 530 to the dollar on the black market; last week it was down to 360 and it might hit 320 when the tourist rush sets in. (The free franc was still 318.) A knowing traveler could get by on $7 a day for food and lodging...