Away with the welsch rubbish

The word welsch is derived from the German term for Romans or Celts, just as the English word “welsh” describes the language spoken in Wales.

The French and a part of their culture are being disparaged, portrayed here as “dirt” that – along with the gallic cockerel – is being swept away by the Alsatian Germans. The beret was banned, Réne Bazin’s revanchist novel “Les Oberlé” was removed from libraries, as were the books of the Colmar artist Jean-Jacques Waltz, also known as ‘Hansi’.

Due to his anti-German stance and his illustrations, Waltz was sentenced to a 15-month prison sentence by German security agencies in 1914. In the Second World War, he was tracked down by the Gestapo in southern France and severely maltreated.