Following the liberation of France in 1944, photographers and reporters documented numerous scenes illustrating how French communities responded to people suspected of cooperating with the German occupation. Among the most striking images were those showing women whose heads were publicly shaved while onlookers surrounded them, frequently jeering, insulting, or ridiculing them. To contemporary viewers, the women’s expressions may seem difficult to read, but the purpose of these events was clear: they were meant to inflict public shame. Many of those targeted were accused of what became known as “horizontal collaboration,” a label applied to women who had engaged in romantic or sexual relationships with German servicemen during the occupation.
Collaboration in occupied France took many forms, from limited accommodation to active support for German authorities. In the tense and often volatile period that followed liberation, however, women accused of relationships with German soldiers became some of the most visible representations of perceived disloyalty. The public head-shavings functioned both as punishment and as a means of channeling widespread resentment, highlighting the complex relationship between individual actions, collective anger, and the frequently uneven administration of justice in postwar France.
German Occupation of France
France was invaded by German forces in May 1940 and defeated within a month, forcing an armistice between delegates from both countries. This marked France’s official surrender, and divided the nation into two zones: the German-occupied north and the French-controlled south, which was known as Vichy France.
Marshal Henri-Philippe Pétain was the authoritarian figurehead for Vichy France, where he acted in line with Germany, leading to tens of thousands of Jewish citizens being expelled from the region during this time. Some sources claim he’d hoped to act as a mediator between France and the Axis powers, to both keep German troops out of Vichy and to aid the French Resistance.
It wasn’t until November 1942 that German troops took Vichy, in retaliation for the involvement of Free French forces in North Africa. According to Germany, the acts committed by the French forces in the region had violated the armistice agreement that had been signed over two years prior.
Horizontal collaboration
During the German occupation of France, some women formed relationships with enemy soldiers as a means of survival. Many were young mothers whose husbands were interned in prisoner of war camps, and aligning with a German soldier often became a way to secure food, shelter, and safety for themselves and their children.
In urban centers such as Paris, numerous women were pressured or coerced into working in clubs, where they engaged with German soldiers for money. These establishments grew so widespread that German and French authorities sometimes coordinated efforts to regulate them and even brought women from rural regions into the cities against their will.
Not all connections were forced—some arose from genuine affection or romantic attachment. Surviving photographs, including those preserved by German POWs, depict women alongside their French partners or spouses during the Second World War.
Regardless of whether these relationships were voluntary or coerced, they were broadly labeled as “horizontal collaboration.” After the liberation of France, women associated with these liaisons faced severe public shaming and punitive measures.
Retribution for horizontal collaboration
France was liberated following the Allied landings in Normandy, which led to their advance into Caen and Paris. Although the Germans were ordered to destroy the capital, they ultimately surrendered.
Between this liberation and the end of the war, Allied forces focused on expelling the remaining German troops from France, while citizens took action against those accused of horizontal collaboration.
Some women who had romantic relationships with German soldiers managed to escape this retribution by traveling to Germany with their husbands or boyfriends during the liberation. Those who stayed behind, however, became targets due to their horizontal collaboration. In fact, the outrage against these women was so intense that some were wrongly accused of fraternizing with the enemy.
Les femmes tondues
Women accused of so-called “horizontal collaboration” were frequently punished after the liberation of France through the public shaving of their heads, a penalty imposed on those alleged to have maintained romantic or sexual relationships with German soldiers during the occupation. These women became known as les femmes tondues, meaning “the shorn women,” and historians estimate that roughly 20,0000 women were subjected to the practice.
For many, the punishment involved far more than the removal of their hair. Public degradation often accompanied the head-shavings, with some women being partially disrobed, verbally abused by crowds, coated with tar, pelted with stones, kicked, beaten, or spat upon. In a number of cases, the violence became severe enough to result in fatalities.
Those who carried out these acts came from a range of backgrounds. Participants included members of the French Resistance as well as people who had previously cooperated with the German occupation. In some situations, individuals with their own records of collaboration took part in the reprisals in an effort to deflect attention from their wartime activities and reduce the likelihood of facing scrutiny after France’s liberation.
Recognition as German citizens
It’s estimated that relationships between German soldiers and French women during World War II resulted in the birth of around 200,000 offspring. Many of these boys and girls grew up never knowing the identity of their fathers, while others who did often stayed quiet to avoid stigma and hostility. Those labeled as the offspring of occupying troops were frequently subjected to abuse and shunning, sometimes even within their own households.
In many cases, the truth only came to light decades later, when hidden mementos—letters, photographs, or personal belongings—were uncovered after their mothers’ deaths. These revelations prompted many of the so-called “war children” to seek answers about their heritage or to establish a connection to their German families. More recently, both Germany and France have formally recognized their plight. Germany extended dual citizenship as a gesture of accountability and reconciliation, while France, in a surprising turn, has also supported citizenship requests, acknowledging the hardships these children endured and offering symbolic justice.