The hot summer of 1944. The crowds of French people take to the streets to greet their liberators. The celebration does not last long, however. Civilians feel the urgent need to take revenge on the collaborators. The great hunt begins, and the first victims of wild purges are women. For those who made their lives easier under the occupation by having sex with the Germans, there could be no mercy.
One day in August, Winston Churchill's personal secretary, Jock Colville, witnessed an event in northern France which he carefully described in his diary:
I watched as an open truck passed us, accompanied by the whistles and shouts of the French population, carrying a dozen hapless women with all their hair shaved off. They were crying and ashamed, their heads hung down. I was disgusted with this atrocity, but after a while I realized that we British had not experienced invasion or occupation in some nine hundred years. So we were not the best judges.
Swastika on the forehead
The sight of the humiliated French women soon became commonplace for the Allied soldiers, but the first impression must have been terrifying. Women were forcibly dragged out of their homes for public view. Their heads were carefully shaved - from now on they were to be known as femmes tondues - "women with haircuts".
Accused of collaboration horizontale humiliated, an eloquent symbol of the shaving of the head. The illustration comes from the book by Antony Beevor "Paris Liberated" (Znak Horizon 2015).
Tar swastikas were painted on their foreheads or backs . Some were stripped, others, as Anthony Beevor writes in his book "Paris Liberated":
were forced to salute the Nazis and walk the streets of the city with illegitimate children in their arms. It has been reported that in some places, women were also tortured and even killed during these barbaric practices.
The carnival of hatred, the victim of which fell to women, was to be a punishment for the worst possible form of contact with the occupant - the so-called collaboration horizontale , that is, lying down collaboration.
The article is based, inter alia, on for the book by Antony Beevor "Paris Liberated" (Znak Horizon 2015).
Sleeping with the enemy
During the war, hundreds of thousands of French men were killed or imprisoned or imprisoned in prison camps. Virtually every family was father, brother, or sonless. Despite the lack of men, in 1942 there was a demographic boom - more than 200,000 children were born from Franco-German unions which shows the extent of collaboration horizontale. The motivations of the women who decided to have a relationship with the enemy, however, were different.
Among more than 20,000 documented examples of women who had their heads shaved, outright supporters of National Socialism were in the minority. One of the most honored women were prostitutes and young girls, lured by the Germans with the prospect of a better life. Most of the streets and courtesans did not pay attention to the nationality of their clients, which they regretted during the so-called épuration sauvage (wild purges).
Among the 20,000 documented examples of women who had their heads shaved, there were many who never really slept with the occupant.
The humiliating marches were dominated by women, often young mothers, who had committed the so-called "Double betrayal" - infidelity to the country and the husband. Few of the torturers cared why they had taken such a step. There are known cases of women who agreed to admit a German to the house in the hope that their spouses would be released by Marshal Pétain.
Collaborators or victims?
For many French women, sleeping with the occupant was the only way to save their children from starvation. As the German writer Ernst Jünger rightly pointed out, food was power in those days. The tormentors were mainly driven by jealousy over the food women received in exchange for their actions.
Among the femmes tondues There were also women who simply fell in love with the occupant. One of the most tragic cases concerns girls sent to work in the Reich during the war, who met the love of life there and decided to return to France with their loved ones. Their neighbors, often members of the Resistance, knew this and did not mind until liberation.
People who were completely innocent were also avenged - in the village of Villedieu a young girl was punished, who was simply cleaning up in the German commandant. Women who had abortions were also "haircuts", which was supposed to mean getting rid of "proof of collaboration", and men who were proven to be "indecent" with German soldiers.
The article is based, inter alia, on for the book by Antony Beevor "Paris Liberated" (Znak Horizon 2015).
Elite collaborators
A similar fate befell the women of the Parisian society. Among them were, among others the daughter of Daisy Fellowes, editor-in-chief of the famous fashion magazine Harper's Bazaar. The first, Emmeline, spent several months in prison, the second, Jaqueline, had her hair cut due to the activities of her husband, who was accused of treason against members of the Resistance.
The most famous case of collaboration was Coco Chanel's relationship with Hans Günther von Dincklag. The designer, known for her controversial views, was arrested in early September 1944 despite generous distribution of Chanel No. 5. Soon, however, Coco was released and, unlike the second famous collaborator, actress Arletta, she did not suffer the penalty of having her head cut .
"My heart belongs to France, but my ass is international!"
Arletty - a beloved and respected star of pre-war cinema - during the war she became involved with the German Luftwaffe officer Hans Jürgen Soehring, whom she used to call beau Fridolin - handsome Swabian.
At the time of arrest, Arletta was to shout that her heart belongs to France, but her ass is international.
Apparently, when the French Leclerc division entered Paris, Arletta called the general fearing for her life. Indeed, she was soon imprisoned in the famous Fresnes prison. At the time of her arrest, she reportedly shouted out that her heart belongs to France, but her ass is international.
Soon a rumor spread around town that her breasts had been cut off. In fact, her head was most likely shaved - the actress's private hairdresser later confessed that Arletty came to her in a turban asking for a wig to be made.
The actress spent eight months in custody, and in the meantime was released on a pass in order to play one of the life roles in the movie "Comedians." Her famous cinematic line "I am a victim of injustice!" Has gone down in history.
Historian Anthony Beevor argues in his book that the French did not really condemn the affair with a German officer. The actress's main sin was that she spent the war at the Ritz, tasting the best food while they were barely making ends meet . Soehring himself became a West German diplomat after the war and was killed by a crocodile while swimming in the Congo River.
Arletty was such a big star that she was even released from custody so that she could play in "The Comedies". However, her fame did not prevent her from shaving her head. The illustration shows a frame from the movie "Comedians".
Shadow collaboration horizontale he followed the actress for many years. Even after her death in 1992, almost 50 years after the end of the war, the editorial offices of the newspapers that published obituaries that ignored her wartime acts were inundated with hundreds of letters from indignant French people.