Geography Lesson

Any political exile from Fascism or Naziism has a difficult time traveling about Europe these days. The man who would be arrested on sight in one Axis country would probably find conditions uncomfortably hot for him in the other. Since the Rome-Berlin Axis cuts Europe squarely in two, this state of affairs compels an exile going from eastern Europe to western Europe, for example, to chart a circuitous route.

Latest to learn this lesson of modern geography is exiled King Zog, whose kingdom of Albania was seized by the Italians last April. Having spent most of the time since his flight from Albania at Istanbul, Turkey, Zog recently decided to transfer his home to France. Shortest and quickest route from Istanbul to Paris would have been by rail on either the Orient Express or the Simplon Orient. The Orient goes through Germany and the Simplon through Italy. Zog first arranged to travel by Soviet steamer from Istanbul direct to Marseille, stopping only at Peiraeus, Greece, and Alexandria, Egypt. Normal route of such a journey, however, is through the Strait of Messina, on one side of which is the toe of the Italian boot, on the other Sicily. Both are uncomfortably close.

Whatever the cause, His Majesty changed his course and decided to take an even more roundabout way. Accompanied by Queen Geraldine, his three-month-old son Skander, four of his sisters and a suite of 20, Zog first went to Bucharest, Rumania's capital. The temporary crisis over Danzig caused him to stay there three days, but when things died down he proceeded on to Warsaw. From Warsaw early this week he was scheduled to go to Gdynia, the Baltic Polish port near Danzig, where he was to catch a ship for France. Onthelstanbul-Bucharest-Warsaw-Gdynia-Paris route Zog will have traveled 2,700 miles, which is 1,100 miles longer than the direct Istanbul-Sofia-Belgrade-Milan-Paris rail trip.

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