In the wake of the Battle of Bucharest, Bassarabescu was held in captivity and processed by the German Army. Alexandru Tzigara-Samurcaș, a "Junimist" in the German ranks, intervened for his release, and then employed him at the Bucharest Police Prefecture — Bassarabescu served there as Divisional Chief from February to April 1917. The Germans then forced Bassarabescu back to his adoptive Ploiești and to his schoolteacher's career. According to writer Victor Eftimiu, who knew and befriended Bassarabescu, this assignment suited him perfectly: "Himself a shy man [like his characters,] he was content with sticking to his provincial schoolteacher's job."