French girl mistakenly abandoned at German school on holiday

BERLIN – In a cross-border cultural mix-up, authorities say a little French girl was found alone, crying in the playground of her school in Germany after her parents forgot it was a holiday in the neighbouring country.

Police said the 5-year-old’s parents dropped her off early Thursday at the German-French school in the border town of Kappel-Grafenhausen but they had forgotten Corpus Christi was a public holiday in the Catholic-majority state of Baden Wuerttemberg.

A neighbour found the girl and looked after her until police were able to contact the school administration to arrange for someone to watch her until the parents came and picked her up.