differences between Germans and French

In 1917, Hansi painted 2 paintings with which we can play to the game of differences.

First, on the canvas representing the German oppression entitled : Saint-Amarin occupé par les Allemands ; Hansi made a caricature of Germans to show his patriotism. We can see a sad village : children are beaten at school, French citizen are arrested and lead outside the town, Germans empty houses and dictate laws to children, gooses run away, soldiers censor My Village written by Hansi and.. the stork is sad and withdrawn on herself.

In contrary of this chaotic vision, Hansi painted a paining entitled : Saint-Amarin libéré par les Français. We can already see a difference between the words . Indeed in the first painting the village is "occupied" and so "invaded" whereas in the second one, the Village is free thanks to French. We can read here the opinion of Hansi.

On this other version, Hansi represented a village where there is the celebration of freedom. German Tourists and Soldiers are drive away or are arrested. Children are happy and sing together, a woman is happy to see her husband come back, villagers drink proudly with French soldiers. We can notice that the tricolor flag is present everywhere and most important the stork is happy like everyone in the village.

In this last composition, some characters are speaking like in a cartoon. Hansi is really avant-garde because cartoons became popular in France only in 1930 with Americans.

Thanks to those canvas, Hansi shows his state of mind and his love for the French Culture openly and wants that his region become again part of France.