Ionesco also intended "Rhinoceros" as a satire of French behavior under the German occupation of 1940–1944. The green skin of the rhinoceros recalled not only the green uniforms of the Iron Guard, but also the green uniforms of the "Ordnungspolizei" who enforced German power in France during the occupation. Several French critics when they saw the première of "Rhinoceros" in 1960 wrote in their reviews that the green skin of the rhinoceros invoked memories of the Occupation, with the "Ordnungspolizei" in their green uniforms and the Wehrmacht in their muddy-green uniforms. During the Occupation, the French applied nicknames to the Germans that often used the word "vert", calling the Germans "haricots verts" (green beans), "sauterelles verts" (green locusts), and "race verte" (green race). In France during the occupation, the color green was indelibly associated with the Germans.