Horizontal collaboration

Uncommon card · No. 193878

Horizontal collaboration (French: Collaboration horizontale, collaboration féminine or collaboration sentimentale) referred to the romantic or sexual relationship that many women in France actually or allegedly had with members of the German occupation forces after the Fall of France in 1940. The existence of those liaisons had been a major reason for young men to join the French Resistance. After the Liberation of France from German occupation, such women were often punished for collaboration with the German occupiers. After the war, throughout France, women accused of collaboration had their heads shaved. These women were referred to as "femmes tondues" (shaven women) and were easily identifiable. In many of the 20,000 cases, the women in question had performed only professional services for the occupying Germans, rather than being engaged in sexual relationships with them. The head-shaving in public spaces being used to punish women thought to be collaborators and the presence of many...

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