Nazi letter found in king’s desk

PARIS - The Associated Press

For 67 years, a message from Nazi-occupied France remained hidden in a secret drawer of a desk that belonged to France’s 18th century King Louis XV. Restorers at the Chateau of Versailles recently discovered the letter, written by a World War II-era colleague who last restored the bronze-coated bureau.

The letter, released on Jan. 10y the chateau, details restoration work on the desk during the war. The restorer says he wrote the note after he finished the work just as Paris was being liberated from the Nazis in August 1944.

The letter was found in one of the desk’s many small drawers, which can be opened only by a complex mechanical system of secret buttons and locks considered cutting-edge in its day.