At the end of World War II, French people accused some women for being collaborative with the occupying Germans were punished with humiliating acts, such as their heads where shaved in public and they were beaten. Some women were marched through the streets and shamed. The humiliating scenes often took place in front of jeering crowds as you can see in the photographs below.
A lot of committees, Resistance cells and French intellectuals protested against these public shaving because they were also punishing women, who did simple jobs like cooking, laundry, cleaning or other housemaid jobs for the Germans staying there. Some of these women had to pay the rent and food themselves to survive during wartime. Unfortunately, the resistance cells and committees only managed to keep these public shaving low in few regions of France.
umans. 🤷♂️
This isn’t that shocking. It’s well known that collaborators had consequences and given that they weren’t put on trial and executed I’d say they got off easy.
Yeah…but were they even willing collaborators? Germany occupied France…a lot of those soldiers were having a hay day and using their power horribly. They were raping women, terrorizing people, and stealing. The French just had to put up with it. History is filled with instances of women being punished for things that forcefully happened to them, especially rape. Even American soldiers raped French women during the “French Liberation” towards the end of WW2. Then many of these women became single mothers and social pariahs.
If these women felt threatened to be at the beck and call of German soldiers, it wouldn’t be fair for them just to be punished later when they were just trying to survive.
Collaborators could be the wrong word here. By “collaborator”, they most often meant “had sex with” nazis occupying France. Many of the women didn’t have a choice, that is, many of these women who were tortured by their own neighbours after the war were raped by the nazis, or forced into relationships against their will. They certainly did not get off easy. But tale as old as time, when men feel weak they take it out on women…
My great aunt was forced to sleep with the nazi(s) next door to keep the family surviving. She was punished and exiled after we were liberated. A relative tried to find her in the 90s and she freaked out so much she disappeared again.
So sorry that this happened in your family. This is the exact kind of situation I’m talking about. Many of these were either fully forced into relations with nazis, or it was the only way to provide for their families. Not an easy decision to make. Definitely not fair to call them collaborators, and I’m sickened that the person I first replied to is getting any upvotes, their comment should be deleted.
Reminds me of the movie “Malena”. Its literally the plot. I feel so awful for the women who had to face such levels of cruelty. Especially the ones who had no community, no friends, no family, no one they could turn to for help.
No it’s the right word. I think it’s a slap on the wrist. Were some coerced? Of course. Was Vichy a disgusting racist state that was sustained by good Germans/ French? Absolutely
You disgust me.
Sorry if I don’t want to join in the bandwagon of letting the Pétainists off the hook. Nazis disgust me but à chacun à son goût, hein?
Ya, bandwagon. Whatever you need to tell yourself. You’re just like all of the other pathetic man babies who want to see women punished.
Some of those women were Nazis, and so yeah, they should’ve been punished.
Women collaborators were shamed, usually assaulted. Male collaborators were dragged to the edge of town and shot or hung….
Although neither is okay or justified, there is a reason there aren’t as many photos of what happened to the men who collaborated
Female “collaborators” were/are often just rape victims.
My parents come from war. The women who were raped, are all just seen as having had sex outside of marriage. People hold that against them as a reason to call them wh***s. And the women just accept that it’s shameful it happened to them and them losing their worth.
Many of the female “collaborators” were prostitues who serviced the Nazis, regular women who were coerced into sleeping with them lest the Nazis kill their families, or straight up rape victims. The Coco Chanel types who actually shared the ideology were rare (and mostly consisted of wealthy women, like Chanel, who escaped harassment or trial).
On the other side of the coin, while there probably were male collaborators who were raped or otherwise forced, most of them willingly betrayed their country in hopes of attaining power or money. While it could be argued that both the female and male collaborators did what they did for personal gain, “don’t kill my kids” is a different reason than “give me a good job”.
This is actually mild. Many women who collaborated with German soldiers, and especially women who betrayed other French, were, after liberation, dragged out onto the street and shot, without trial.
I get the feeling that many of these woman were prostitutes and didn’t have much choice, or possibly didn’t even know in some cases.
Most of them were average citizens caught up in larger circumstances far outside of their control. Some saw opportunities to move up in life. Some were simply trying to make the best of the circumstances they were in. Some were coerced.
The ones whose heads were shaved were beloved to be sexually involved with the Germans.
It has been theorized that the women -and- men who collaborated with Germans counterbalanced the French Resistance. The French Resistance was critical to the Allied forces reclaiming land from the Germans.
Men who collaborated were executed.