This appears to be a photograph from the Liberation of France in 1944, showing a woman being publicly humiliated during the extrajudicial reprisals against alleged collaborators.
Women accused of collaboration with the German occupiers—particularly alleged sexual relationships with German soldiers, the so-called collaboration horizontale—were sometimes stripped, beaten, had their heads shaved, and were paraded before crowds. Paris’s Musée de la Libération holds photographs from 1944 explicitly catalogued as a “naked woman mistreated by the crowd during the Liberation,” which appears consistent with the scene in your photograph.
So the disturbing part of the photograph is quite literal: the woman appears to have been forcibly stripped and is sitting in the street while surrounded by men. The scraps of clothing on the pavement may be what was removed from her. This was part of what became known as the épuration sauvage (“wild purge”)—unofficial and often summary punishment immediately before and after liberation. Historians estimate that roughly 20,000 French women had their heads shaved during these reprisals; accusations and the degree of actual collaboration varied considerably from case to case.
I would not identify the woman from the photograph itself, and I haven't found enough evidence to say exactly where or on what date this particular frame was taken. But the historical setting is very likely France, 1944, during the purge of alleged collaborators.
Women accused of collaboration with the German occupiers—particularly alleged sexual relationships with German soldiers, the so-called collaboration horizontale—were sometimes stripped, beaten, had their heads shaved, and were paraded before crowds. Paris’s Musée de la Libération holds photographs from 1944 explicitly catalogued as a “naked woman mistreated by the crowd during the Liberation,” which appears consistent with the scene in your photograph.
So the disturbing part of the photograph is quite literal: the woman appears to have been forcibly stripped and is sitting in the street while surrounded by men. The scraps of clothing on the pavement may be what was removed from her. This was part of what became known as the épuration sauvage (“wild purge”)—unofficial and often summary punishment immediately before and after liberation. Historians estimate that roughly 20,000 French women had their heads shaved during these reprisals; accusations and the degree of actual collaboration varied considerably from case to case.
I would not identify the woman from the photograph itself, and I haven't found enough evidence to say exactly where or on what date this particular frame was taken. But the historical setting is very likely France, 1944, during the purge of alleged collaborators.
samueltyler2 · 80-89, M
@FrogManSometimesLooksBothWays the question then remains, what was her role and what became of her. Was her punishment justified?
hunkalove · 70-79, M
My sister at the donkey show.
ineedadrink · 56-60, M
I think I know the story of this picture. She was accused of sleeping with the nazi occupiers in France.
Yulianna · 26-30, F
@ineedadrink i know many women were attacked for that... by vigilantes...
ineedadrink · 56-60, M
@Yulianna A lot of ugliness went on that was whitewashed.
Yulianna · 26-30, F
@ineedadrink yes, i am sure... defeat is hard for a proud nation... capitulation is almost unbearable...
samueltyler2 · 80-89, M
A WWII collaborator?
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Yulianna · 26-30, F
@samueltyler2 i don't know - i suspect most try to run away...
but we have not had a parallel situation since 1944/5... til now...
but we have not had a parallel situation since 1944/5... til now...
samueltyler2 · 80-89, M
@Yulianna i wish it was over for you! With you as Victor.
Yulianna · 26-30, F
@samueltyler2 can we survive another two years of trump and jd vile? the rise of the right in Germany and France? the Xi, putin, Kim triumvirate - with a side order of Ayatollah?
we don't know we can get through this winter, with such faithless friends...
but we will - because we have the will...
we don't know we can get through this winter, with such faithless friends...
but we will - because we have the will...
Yulianna · 26-30, F
jesus! what's that?
Yulianna · 26-30, F
@Floki yes, i studied this period at school in History and in War Studies at university...
read my reply to @samueltyler2 in this threadd...
read my reply to @samueltyler2 in this threadd...
peterlee · M
We only became aware of the French concentration camps in the nineteen nineties. There was one five miles from where I stayed twenty years after the war, in the Loire valley. No one of course spoke about it, and you would never have known it was there.
samueltyler2 · 80-89, M
@peterlee in 1972 we were in Munich and asked directions to Dachau. We were told there wasn't anything to see. We found our way there. It was a very moving, upsetting experience.
peterlee · M
@samueltyler2 Denial is a coping strategy.
samueltyler2 · 80-89, M
@peterlee that is really an inadequate excuse. A recent trip to. Berlin showed thst the German government takes open responsibility and teaches about its darkest days. The US is in the process of trying to deny, and expunge all teaching of the horrors of our past.
eyeno · M












