Yes, I was not born when the original German translations were released, so I cannot comment on the reactions in the time. But I can also not recall any media controversy around the comic other than the initial publisher mishap, that is why I am bit confused about these comments. Surely there must be some people that complained to Uderzo but that is unavoidable.

Erbfeindschaft (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French%E2%80%93German_enmity) is still alive and well in Germany so it's not like there is no awareness of these sentiments anymore. Although under the EU project that has improved a lot in the recent two decades because both the French and Germans found a common enemy in the Brits ha.