The train carriage is straight from the golden age of rail travel. Commissioned in 1913, wagon 2419D of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits had a dining car with mahogany walls. By November 11 1918, it was the French marshal Ferdinand Foch’s mobile office, parked in the forests outside Compiègne, in northern France. Eight French, German and British men spent that night in strange intimacy around its small wooden table, smoking and studying France’s punitive peace terms. Foch had refused to negotiate: the Germans could sign the proposed Armistice or leave. At 5.12am the German Catholic politician Matthias Erzberger signed, then said, “A nation of 70 million suffers but does not die.” Foch still wouldn’t shake hands.
这节车厢真的来自铁路旅行的黄金时代。编号为2419D的车厢的运营方为国际卧铺车公司(Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits)，于1913年委托制造，有一节红木墙的餐车。到了1918年11月，这节车厢已成了法国元帅费迪南•福煦(Ferdinand Foch)的移动办公室，停在法国北部贡比涅(Compiègne)市外的森林。11月10日那天晚上，在一种诡异的亲密环境中，8个法国人、德国人和英国人围坐在一张木桌旁，抽着烟，研究法国提出的苛刻和平条款。福煦拒绝谈判：德国人要么在拟定的《停战协议》上签字，要么离开。11月11日清晨5时22分，德国天主教政治人士马蒂亚斯•埃茨贝格尔(Matthias Erzberger)签署了协议，然后说：“一个7000万人的民族遭受苦难，但没有灭亡。”福煦仍然拒绝握手。