World War II "armistice" - French ignorance or error?

Is the decision by the press office of the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, to use the word "armistice" in its description of the ceremony marking the end of World War II hostilities in Europe a question of ignorance of history or political correctness?

That's the question that has been posed by some sectors of the media here this week after the services of the Elysée palace, the French president's office, sent out what it called "a message" to journalists informing them of "The 65th Anniversary of the Armistice of 1945" to be held in the eastern French town of Colmar next weekend.

Elysée palace (from Wikipedia)

May 8 is Victory in Europe Day (VE Day) marking the date when the Allies formally accepted Germany's unconditional surrender at the end of World War II.

It's a national holiday in many parts of Europe and in France there'll be ceremonies up and down the country including the one at which Nicolas Sarkozy will be present.

But for the second year in a row the office of the Elysée palace has decided to use the term "armistice" rather than "capitulation" or "surrender" in describing the ceremony.

And that's a mistake, as far as the French weekly news magazine Le Point is concerned.

"The Armistice of May 8 1945 never existed," it says. "It was an unconditional surrender that occurred in two stages."

A point also taken up by the left-of-centre news weekly Marianne, which digs deeper into history, consults definitions of "capitulation", "surrender" and "armistice" and comes to the conclusion that either the whole affair illustrates a lack of knowledge of history on the part of the Elysée or it's an attempt to rewrite the history books.

"Such a confusion of the terms is understandable, if inaccurate, among Internet users, but not by those working closely with the French president," it says.

"Are the services of the Elysée totally ignorant?' it asks. "Or are they attempting to be 'politically correct' and trying to soften a painful part of the Europe's recent history?"

To get to the bottom of the matter the daily free newspaper 20 minutes contacted the Elysée directly to be told that the so-called "message" was "not an official press release nor an invitation, but simply a reminder of the upcoming event."

Perhaps not the most convincing explanation of the intent behind the use of the word "armistice", but the one with which it looks as though the the French media will have to be content.

Map of Belgium redrawn by French TV

Hands up those of you who can pinpoint Belgium on a map of Europe...without cheating.

All right there might be excuses for those far away who aren't too au fait with the geography of the "Old Continent".

And maybe Brits should be let off to as many there view the country as "small, boring and flat", with the only reference made to it a negative one as Brussels, the capital and "home" to the European Union often portrayed and perceived as attempting to take over all aspects of daily life.

But how about neighbours France? The French should be able to understand the place after all they share a common language with a certain number of folk living there.

But earlier this week one prime time news broadcast got things very wrong.

Belgium is in the news at the moment after the fall of yet another government. An election has been called for June.

It's a country of almost 11 million with a Dutch-speaking majority and a French-speaking minority separated into Flanders and Wallonia respectively.

There's also another, much smaller, German-speaking minority.

The differences between the Dutch-speaking and French-speaking communities have often been at the heart of the political divide in Belgium, and it was in attempting to shed some light on the ins and out during Monday's prime time news that France's main private TV station TF1, treated its viewers - and those able to watch across the border - to a rather distorted map of its smaller neighbour.

In what was surely a faux pas of monumentally embarrassing proportions, the channel showed a map of Belgium with the regions clearly marked.

Except where Flanders should have been there was the name of Wallonia and vice versa of course.


Whoops.

A solution to the problem of the bilingual capital Brussels perhaps as far as French-speakers would be concerned.

The city is actually surrounded by Dutch-speaking suburbs (you really do need to know your geography to understand completely) but TF1's map appeared to resolve that issue neatly by plonking it in Wallonia (are you following?).

It was of course all a mistake, and one anchor Harry Roselmack put right the following evening.

"Turning to Belgium, and first of all apologies to our viewers there who tune in every evening," he began.

"Last night we showed a map of Belgium in which Wallonia was where Flanders should have been and vice versa," he continued.

"It was a serious mistake, which we've corrected this evening," he motioned to his left, before once again launching into another report on the problems the country is facing with the split between the two communities, a general election planned in June and Belgium due to take over the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union at the beginning of July.

So there you have it. A geography lesson, French style, if you will.

Poster ad' pokes fun at Sarkozy's height

There could be trouble ahead for the car rental company Sixt following its latest advertising campaign.

A German poster for the company carries a picture of the French hatchback the Citroën C3 with the slogan encouraging customers to "Do the same as Madame Bruni, choose a small French model" ("Machen Sie es wie Madame Bruni. Nehmen Sie sich einen kleinen Franzosen").


Oops.

The reference of course is to the height difference between the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.

Sarkozy reportedly measures 1m65 or 5' 5" (it differs according to which source you believe) while his wife is 1m78 or 5' 10".

"The advertisement is just meant to be amusing," says the president of Sixt in France, Jean-Philippe Doyen.

"It's typical of the kind of humour we use in our campaigns and it's not meant to be taken seriously."

As yet there has been no reaction to the Sixt poster from the couple. They're currently on a trip to China.

But given their past record, it's surely unlikely they'll be "amused".

Back in 2008 they successfully sued the low-cost carrier Ryanair for the damages after the airline used an unauthorised photo of them in an advertisement.

And during his presidency Sarkozy has resorted to legal action on more than one occasion, such as the infamous "Voodoo doll" case

The height difference between the French president and his wife has often been the subject of satire in this country and the opposition Socialist party has referred to him at times as suffering from "small man syndrome".

He's known to wear raised shoes in public, while his wife prefers to wear flats.

And then there's the so-called "Sarkozy stool" with which the French president travels and has been caught using on several occasions to give him the appearance of being taller than he actually is when making official speeches.

The media had a field day back June 2009 when a video caught the French president using the footstool during a speech at the D-Day commemorations in Normandy.

And in September last year there was a clip on "Le Petit Journal" on Canal + poking fun at Sarkozy's use of a similar "accessory" while making a speech to the United Nations.



Just for the record Sarkozy is apparently one of the shortest world leaders.

Although he's taller than the Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev (1m60 or 5' 3") he's considerably shorter than his US counterpart Barack Obama (1m88 or 6' 2), the British prime minister, Gordon Brown (1m80 or 5' 11") and the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel (1m72 or 5' 8").