Last week, while evoking l’Alsace et la Lorraine, and raising the question of whether they were originally French or German, we characterized the temporary loss of these two territories as provoking to many a French person a corresponding “temporary loss of sanity.”
For nearly half a century, a heavy wind of revanchisme (from the word “revanche“, meaning “revenge”) blew all over France.
Freedom had to be recovered at all costs for les Alsatiens and les Lorrains.
In the meantime, the general consensus in France seemed to be summed up in this soothing formula: “Vous avez pu germaniser la Plaine, mais notre cœur, vous ne l’aurez jamais” (“You were able to Germanize the Plaine [river], but our heart, you will never have.“)
Curiously enough, however, the same freedom so feverishly demanded to Alsatians and Lorrainers was still deemed out of the question to the millions of indigènes living under an extremely repressive rule in the French colonies of Africa and Asia.
Even worse, a sizable number of the inhabitants of Alsace and Lorraine, who were now left with no homes nor land, headed straight to the French Colonial Empire.
Pourquoi?
To seek compensation, of course.
There, just like the Germans did to them, they took over vast amounts of land that were unjustly expropriated from their rightful native owners.
A terrifying paradox, to say the least.
In any case, a century later, and despite still fresh wounds from the Second World War, revanchisme already seemed like something of the past. To the point that Coluche, the famous French comedian, poked fun at it in his movie “Vous n’aurez pas l’Alsace et la Lorraine” (“You Will Not Have the Alsace and Lorraine”), with a soundtrack music composed by Serge Gainsbourg.
“L’Alsace et la Lorraine” by Gaston-Louis Villemer. For easily understandable reasons, Villemer, who was accused by some of resorting to ghostwriters, never dared to sign his songs under his real first name: Germain!
France, à bientôt ! Car la sainte espérance
France, see you soon! Because the holy hope
Emplit nos cœurs en te disant : adieu
Fills out hearts by saying to you: Goodbye
En attendant l’heure de la délivrance
Till comes the hour of relief
Pour l’avenir… Nous allons prier Dieu
For the future… We will pray God
Nos monuments où flottent leur bannière
Our monuments where their banner flutters
Semble porter le deuil de ton drapeau
Seem to hold the mourning of your flag
France, entends-tu la dernière prière
France, do you hear the last prayer
De tes enfants couchés dans leurs tombeaux?
Of your children lying in their tombs?
Vous n’aurez pas l’Alsace et la Lorraine
You will not have the Alsace and Lorraine
Et, malgré vous, nous resterons Français
And, willy-nilly, we will remain French
Vous avez pu germaniser la Plaine
You were able to Germanize the Plaine [river]
Mais notre cœur, vous ne l’aurez jamais
But our heart, you will never have
Eh quoi ! Nos fils quitteraient leur chaumières
So what! Our children left their cottages
Et s’en iraient grossir vos régiments !
To fill the ranks of your regiments!
Pour égorger la France, notre mère
To slaughter France, our Mother
Vous armeriez le bras de ses enfants !
You could arm our children’s arms
Vous pouvez leur confier des armes
You can supply them with weapons
C’est contre vous qu’elles leur serviront
It is against you that they will put them to use
Le jour où, las de voir couler nos larmes
The day when, tired of seeing our tears flow
Pour nous venger, leurs bras se lèveront
To avenge us, their arms will rise
Vous n’aurez pas l’Alsace et la Lorraine
You will not have the Alsace and the Lorraine
Et, malgré vous, nous resterons Français
And, willy-nilly, we will remain French
Vous avez pu germaniser la Plaine
You could Germanize the Plaine [river]
Mais notre cœur, vous ne l’aurez jamais
But our heart, you will never have
Ah ! jusqu’au jour où, drapeau tricolore
Ah! Till the day when, tri-colored flag
Tu flotteras sur nos murs exilés
You will flutter above our exiled walls
Frères, étouffons la haine qui dévore
Brothers, let us stifle the hatred which consumes us
Et fait bondir nos cœurs inconsolés
And makes our uncomforted hearts leap up
Mais le grand jour où la France meurtrie
But the day when our bruised France
Reformera ses nouveaux bataillons
Will reform its new batalions
Au cri sauveur jeté par la patrie
To the salvaging cry uttered out by our nation
Hommes, enfants, femmes, nous répondrons
Men, children, women, we will answer
Vous n’aurez pas l’Alsace et la Lorraine
You will not have the Alsace and the Lorraine
Et, malgré vous, nous resterons Français
And, willy-nilly, we will remain French
Vous avez pu germaniser la Plaine
You could Germanize the Plaine [river]
Mais notre cœur vous ne l’aurez jamais
But our heart, you will never have
Today, mes amis, you have some French homework to do.
