FACTS · One Piece of Paper 一塊紙

Every fact in the voice-over, the subtitles and on screen, with its source. Read 2026-10-31.

1871: Treaty of Frankfurt; the German Empire

Voice: "1871. France has just lost a war." "Alsace-Lorraine now belongs to the new German Empire." On screen: "1871 · Europe, after the Franco-Prussian War", "Treaty of Frankfurt, May 1871", "GERMAN EMPIRE". - Treaty of Frankfurt, signed 10 May 1871; Alsace-Lorraine ceded to the German Empire as the Reichsland Elsass-Lothringen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alsace%E2%80%93Lorraine (infobox: Treaty of Frankfurt, 10 May 1871). - German Empire proclaimed 18 January 1871: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proclamation_of_the_German_Empire - The land went to the German Empire, not to the Kingdom of Prussia. The Prussian general is a comic personification of the empire, and the narration names the empire.

1918

Voice: "In 1918, Germany lost the next war, and France tore it right back off." On screen: "1918 · The First World War ends", "GERMANY". - > "French troops … entered Strasbourg on 22 November" 1918; the return to France was confirmed by the Treaty of Versailles, 28 June 1919 (Wikipedia, Alsace–Lorraine).

1940

Voice: "In 1940, Nazi Germany took it again. No treaty this time. Just force." - > "Alsace and Moselle were not formally annexed by Nazi Germany, which nonetheless exercised de facto control" (Wikipedia, Alsace–Lorraine). Hence "no treaty". - The panel shows a faceless dark hand and no symbols of any kind.

1944–45

Voice: "By 1945, it was French again." - Strasbourg liberated 23 November 1944; the Colmar Pocket cleared 9 February 1945: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Alsace ; https://www.cheminsdememoire.gouv.fr/en/1945-liberation-colmar

Strasbourg today

Voice: "Today, Strasbourg hosts the European Parliament." - Strasbourg is the official seat of the European Parliament (twelve plenary sessions a year, fixed in 1992): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Parliament ; https://www.thelocal.fr/20240531/why-does-the-european-parliament-move-between-strasbourg-and-brussels - The two web pages above were cited from search results; open them again before reusing the claim.

The woman on the map

Voice: "She never moved house. Her home switched countries four times." - She is a personification of the people of the region, not a real person. By the dates, someone born around 1851 would be about 94 in 1945: possible, but invented.

The map