Superficial, Witty, Arrogant

Professor Ruth Florack began her lecture at the Samstagsunversität with a bang.

No, nothing at all - no, I don't regret a thing.

After 60 years of Franco-German friendship, the German sits across from the Frenchman, the former with his beer, the latter with his red wine, at a considerable distance. Indeed, when one considers the evolution of the relationship between the two countries, or rather their peoples, a banal status quo has become established over the years. But where are new impetuses? Where is a move toward closer cooperation? Rien de rien!

But first things first. German professors typically begin their lectures with definitions and explanations of terms, and Prof. Florack was no exception.

"STEREOTYPES are cognitive schemas" and "socially shared knowledge structures." 

They may or may not be linked to value judgments (positive or negative).

They serve to distinguish among different social groups (categorization).

And further:

The concept of a stereotype refers to "cognitive processes of differentiation and generalization," whereas 

the concept of a bias refers to "affective processes."

While the Roman historian Tacitus's work De origine et situ Germanorum, written in 98 CE, shaped the German stereotype, Caesar shaped the image of the French in his book De bello Gallico. Cesar's characterization can still be found in Nicolas de Fer's Carte de l'Europe, from 1695.

In the vignette on the right, we read the following in French, which takes some getting used to:

Les François sont d'une Taille avantageuse et de bonnes mine: la Testa belle, et l'air libre et dégagé. Les femmes ont tous les agréments qu'on peut défiler tant pour l'Esprit que pour le Corps, les uns et les autres sont fort Changeants pour les Modes. Propres et Magnifiques en leurs festins. Brave Soldats, fidèlles à leur Roy. et bons Catholiques. Il réussissent parfaitement bien dans leur Exercices, ainsi dans les Arts.

"The French are of fine stature and have a healthy complexion: their heads are handsome, and their demeanor is open and uninhibited. The women possess every charm one could wish for, both in mind and body; both men and women are highly fashion-conscious. They are neat and magnificent at their feasts. They are brave soldiers, loyal to their king, and devout Catholics. They excel in their military drills as well as in the arts."

The whole text reminds me of Obelix and Asterix, except that the French are no longer devout Catholics.

In the course of history, other stereotypes have emerged, such as "leger comme un Français" and, above all, "flighty in love".

It is believed that Columbus's sailors returning from the Americas brought syphilis to Naples, and that the disease spread rapidly starting in 1494 during the French siege of the city by Charles VIII. 

Two years later, the first cases of a previously unknown form of "evil smallpox" appeared in Freiburg. It was morbus gallicus, the French disease. At the Imperial Diet held in the city in 1498, many participants contracted the new affliction. Even the Imperial Chancellor and Archbishop of Mainz, Berthold von Henneberg, seriously ill, had to remain in Freiburg after the end of the Imperial Diet on September 4, 1498.

In the nineteenth century,  German perception of the French was deeply shaped by the France of Louis XIV.  But the military campaigns of the Sun King and, later, Napoleon - which spread the French way of life far into German lands - also had a lasting influence on how Germans viewed the French. 

People have always loved, and still love, to describe the character of others, as in the following account.

Prof. Florack singled out the "French" column and underlined some characteristics in red:

Yet I drew a "full" table and will compare Frantzoß and Teutscher:

Name Character Nature and Characteristics Intellect Expression of Characteristics Science Dress Selfishness Preferences Suffer from Their land is Virtues of war Worship Recognize as their lord Have an abundance Pass the time with Comparison with animals Their end of life

Frechman careless charming and talkative prudent childish matters of war inconsistent deceitful war  from pus well-cultivated cunning good a king of fruit fraud a fox in war

German open-hearted quite good witty always on hand secular affairs imitates everything wasteful drinking from gout good invincible even more reckless an emperor of grain drinking a lion in wine

It is striking that, based on their experiences during the Thirty Years' War and the raids by the French Sodateska on German territory west of the Rhine*, the Germans view the French here as warmongers, while they characterize themselves as drunkards.

*A scorched-earth policy that included the destruction of Heidelberg Castle

This lecture wouldn't be complete without the classical scene from Lessing's play, Minna von Barnhelm, in which it is not necessary to introduce the Chevalier Riccaut de la Marlinière as a Frenchman, for the audience knows already from the start that the carpetbagger does not cheat at gambling, but merely seeks to "corriger la fortune", correct his luck.

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