After the “Belle Epoque“ (early 20th century) with its wealth of popular celebrations and all sorts of public manifestations, 1914 put an abrupt halt to all of these: the city, like the rest of the European continent, had to cope with World War I. Was this still a time for celebrations or for entertainment in a place close to the front? Were these festivities spontaneous or devised by the authorities? In spite of the restrictions, of the constraints imposed by the army and of the absence of lost loved ones life would go on and festivities would give people a chance to forget, at least for a short period, the hardships of those days. Those occasional festivities would be completed by official manifestations, actually an instrument of propaganda and an incitement for the population to demonstrate their attachment to the political regime, whether German or French. So, when the French troops entered Alsace in November 1918, the fervent popular welcome of the soldiers, along with the official festivities, could be interpreted as a positive answer to a potential referendum on Alsace returning to France.