You have to wonder how much of this was actually consensual between German troops and French women.
Wadda22 on
“German Troops” we call them Nazi’s
patdashuri on
I’m going to go ahead and guess that she didn’t have much of a choice. To go through that and then have this as her reward is pretty awful to think about.
ServerLost on
Look at their faces, these men aren’t any better than the Nazis. Did every factory worker forced to make war materials get the same treatment, absolutely not.
knattat on
What is Putin doing in the back of that picture?
jaguaraugaj on
The Nazis would have done worse to her if she didn’t comply
Knapss on
Cowards, these are the lowest of the lowest of the human race. Poor girl. That woman is more brave than all of them together.
Few-Past6073 on
Yeah I mean you probably shouldn’t be banging the occupying forces, kinda disrespectful hahahaha
Ordzhonikidze on
I’ve always felt those head shavings were a shameful act post liberation. They did it in my country as well.
srbistan on
mob never fails to disgust me. many of these women were war widows feeding a starving children, most of these brave men spent the occupation hiding in wine cellars waiting for someone to put their life on the line to rescue them.
neverpost4 on
All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.
Coco Chanel no 5
clrlmiller on
I’ve no doubt that EVERY single one of those Frenchmen worked to keep the lights on for the German forces while the country was occupied. The ONLY French who’d ANY right to point fingers were the resistance fighters. And they were so often betrayed by their neighbors and French Police. Hell, look at the three French soldiers in the picture and tell me THEY bravely fought the whole time during the occupation.
One of the little spoken missions of the British and American Air Forces was to sink the French Naval Forces after capitulation. The damnable French pride couldn’t bear to sabotage or scuttle their own fleet, making it available for augmenting the German Navy.
MateCosidoarg on
Lt. Winters? oh noo
zuesk134 on
god a lot of people would really benefit from actually reading books! yes, many of these women were collaborators by choice. knowing your history around those who enable fascists is good, actually.
TuskenRaider2 on
This part of the war always fascinates me.
What happens when the conquerors are pushed out and people are liberated? What are the psychological aspects of it, how do those who were conquered react and deal with the ramifications, etc.
Some of it’s nice. A flourishing of patriotism, a people’s restored and revitalized, etc. And then a lot of it is fucked up and really twisted… all of it complex and a dark glimpse into human nature and reason.
These men… in their eyes are justified. They probably had friends or family die at the hands of the Nazis. Their country was raped and subjugated only a few decades after WWI. They were helpless. Their rage must have been palpable and in their eyes, shaming conspirators was not only right and cathartic, but their duty to their country and those they lost. This was them retaking their power. As men. And Frenchmen. Etc.
And on the flip slide… how fucking horrible this is for those with potentially little choice in the matter.
This woman didn’t ask for her country to be invaded. Maybe she was desperate. Or hungry. Maybe it was the only thing she could do to keep her family safe.
Maybe she bought into the Nazi propaganda — that the German occupation was a ‘correction’ to an existing European problem that dated back a millennia. That this was the logical progression for the people of Europe, to be united under one flag. Either way, it doesn’t matter.
This woman could have been young when they invaded. They could have coerced or harassed her. She could have done it on her own free will or actually did nothing or was just an innocent caught up in the post war fever. Who knows.
But shaving her head to shame her and take away her humanity… because these very men couldn’t protect France. These same men probably aided the Nazis in more critical and impactful ways than she ever could…. It’s all just so fucked up. And the mob is rarely ever fair or just.
I see stuff like this… and I understand it. And I fucking hate it. War is hell.
ThinWhiteDuke00 on
How many of the men in the photo were Vichy Collaboratists lol.
A nation as large as France was ungovernable without mass collaboration as the French did.
aballah on
“Quite simply, these young women were the easiest and most vulnerable scapegoats, particularly for men who wished to hide their own lack of Resistance credentials.” Antony Beevor, “D-Day: The Battle for Normandy”.
DeRuyter67 on
People are so quick to assume that these women were forced into it. Understandable, but in the case of the Netherlands most of the women who had relationships with German soldiers or officials just fell in love with them. There often wasn’t more to it than that. And it is easy to see how that can be seen as treason.
WholesomeArmsDealer on
The French in the wake of WW2 were doing mob justice on anyone they didn’t like. There were so many different, localized, ideologically different groups of French resistance that the allies worried after France was liberated there’d be a civil-war. Some of that boiled over afterward, a few of the women were actually Nazi sympathizers (very few), the rest were raped by Nazis, sleeping with Nazis for information or wrong place, wrong time.
Also, I find it quite ironic that they had these public displays of ‘Punishing Nazi sympathizers’ when a large portion of the French government post-WW2 was made up of former Nazi collaborators.
20 Comments
She’s lucky that’s all that happened….
You have to wonder how much of this was actually consensual between German troops and French women.
“German Troops” we call them Nazi’s
I’m going to go ahead and guess that she didn’t have much of a choice. To go through that and then have this as her reward is pretty awful to think about.
Look at their faces, these men aren’t any better than the Nazis. Did every factory worker forced to make war materials get the same treatment, absolutely not.
What is Putin doing in the back of that picture?
The Nazis would have done worse to her if she didn’t comply
Cowards, these are the lowest of the lowest of the human race. Poor girl. That woman is more brave than all of them together.
Yeah I mean you probably shouldn’t be banging the occupying forces, kinda disrespectful hahahaha
I’ve always felt those head shavings were a shameful act post liberation. They did it in my country as well.
mob never fails to disgust me. many of these women were war widows feeding a starving children, most of these brave men spent the occupation hiding in wine cellars waiting for someone to put their life on the line to rescue them.
All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.
Coco Chanel no 5
I’ve no doubt that EVERY single one of those Frenchmen worked to keep the lights on for the German forces while the country was occupied. The ONLY French who’d ANY right to point fingers were the resistance fighters. And they were so often betrayed by their neighbors and French Police. Hell, look at the three French soldiers in the picture and tell me THEY bravely fought the whole time during the occupation.
One of the little spoken missions of the British and American Air Forces was to sink the French Naval Forces after capitulation. The damnable French pride couldn’t bear to sabotage or scuttle their own fleet, making it available for augmenting the German Navy.
Lt. Winters? oh noo
god a lot of people would really benefit from actually reading books! yes, many of these women were collaborators by choice. knowing your history around those who enable fascists is good, actually.
This part of the war always fascinates me.
What happens when the conquerors are pushed out and people are liberated? What are the psychological aspects of it, how do those who were conquered react and deal with the ramifications, etc.
Some of it’s nice. A flourishing of patriotism, a people’s restored and revitalized, etc. And then a lot of it is fucked up and really twisted… all of it complex and a dark glimpse into human nature and reason.
These men… in their eyes are justified. They probably had friends or family die at the hands of the Nazis. Their country was raped and subjugated only a few decades after WWI. They were helpless. Their rage must have been palpable and in their eyes, shaming conspirators was not only right and cathartic, but their duty to their country and those they lost. This was them retaking their power. As men. And Frenchmen. Etc.
And on the flip slide… how fucking horrible this is for those with potentially little choice in the matter.
This woman didn’t ask for her country to be invaded. Maybe she was desperate. Or hungry. Maybe it was the only thing she could do to keep her family safe.
Maybe she bought into the Nazi propaganda — that the German occupation was a ‘correction’ to an existing European problem that dated back a millennia. That this was the logical progression for the people of Europe, to be united under one flag. Either way, it doesn’t matter.
This woman could have been young when they invaded. They could have coerced or harassed her. She could have done it on her own free will or actually did nothing or was just an innocent caught up in the post war fever. Who knows.
But shaving her head to shame her and take away her humanity… because these very men couldn’t protect France. These same men probably aided the Nazis in more critical and impactful ways than she ever could…. It’s all just so fucked up. And the mob is rarely ever fair or just.
I see stuff like this… and I understand it. And I fucking hate it. War is hell.
How many of the men in the photo were Vichy Collaboratists lol.
A nation as large as France was ungovernable without mass collaboration as the French did.
“Quite simply, these young women were the easiest and most vulnerable scapegoats, particularly for men who wished to hide their own lack of Resistance credentials.” Antony Beevor, “D-Day: The Battle for Normandy”.
People are so quick to assume that these women were forced into it. Understandable, but in the case of the Netherlands most of the women who had relationships with German soldiers or officials just fell in love with them. There often wasn’t more to it than that. And it is easy to see how that can be seen as treason.
The French in the wake of WW2 were doing mob justice on anyone they didn’t like. There were so many different, localized, ideologically different groups of French resistance that the allies worried after France was liberated there’d be a civil-war. Some of that boiled over afterward, a few of the women were actually Nazi sympathizers (very few), the rest were raped by Nazis, sleeping with Nazis for information or wrong place, wrong time.
Also, I find it quite ironic that they had these public displays of ‘Punishing Nazi sympathizers’ when a large portion of the French government post-WW2 was made up of former Nazi collaborators.