A villain of history and a modern-day hero are going head-to-head in a small town election battle that is lighting up the internet.

Charles Hittler, the mayor of Arcis-sur-Aube in France, is seeking re-election and says the jokes about his name have got “out of control”.

Hittler is campaigning against opponent Antoine Renault-Zielinski, who shares a similar surname to Ukraine’s hero president Volodymyr Zelensky.

“It has gone completely crazy,” Hittler told the BBC.

“All my life I’ve had the occasional joke made about my name. Sometimes people drew moustaches on my election posters. It was never a big deal.

“But now it’s out of control. I’ve seen online articles saying ’37 per cent of the people of Arcis are Hitlerites!’. My wife is in tears.”

Memes about the fight between Germany’s Nazi dictator and Ukraine’s freedom fighter have exploded on social media.

Hittler lamented that the online attention was detracting from the serious business of promoting policies, goals and desires for the town.

“If people were talking about the town and our policies, that would be one thing. But all they’re interested in is our names,” he told the BBC.

Hittler revealed that, to avoid embarrassment, one of his sons pronounced their name “Hit-lay” and his grandchildren have taken their mothers’ names.

But his daughter and daughter-in-law, named Hittler, were unashamedly campaigning for election in other French towns.

“Once you are known, the name begins not to matter. People look at the person behind the name. To my familiars, I was just ‘Monsieur Charles’. So I decided to keep it,” he said.

Hittler said his family hailed from a town near the border with Germany.

His father had been urged in the late 1940s to change his name at a time when Hitler was still fresh in the world’s memory. But it would have been an “administrative headache” and expensive, said Hittler.

Meanwhile, Zielinski, 28, said he was often asked if he was related to Zelensky.

“To which I have to answer no, pointing out that the Polish name ends in an ‘i’ and the Ukrainian in a ‘y’,” he told BFMTV.

“On Sunday I began seeing messages about our names circulating on X and I thought it was just a silly joke. But gradually I realised that everyone is talking about us!

“I can see why people find it amusing. Personally, it doesn’t make me laugh, but it doesn’t bother me either. It would be better if people were talking about Arcis for other reasons, but at least we’re on the map.”