Between nineteen forty-four and nineteen forty-five, as France emerged from German occupation, as many as twenty thousand French women accused of what was known as “horizontal collaboration” were subjected to public humiliation and abuse.

The term referred to alleged sexual relationships with German soldiers or officials during the war.

These acts took place during the period known as the épuration sauvage, or “wild purge,” which unfolded in the immediate aftermath of liberation.

Unlike later, formal legal proceedings, this phase was marked by spontaneous and extrajudicial reprisals carried out by civilians rather than courts or state authorities.

Women targeted during this period were forcibly shaved bald, a punishment designed to mark them visibly and permanently within their communities.

Many were stripped or partially undressed, paraded through streets before crowds, and exposed to insults, spitting, and physical violence.

In some cases, swastikas were painted on their bodies to publicly brand them as traitors.

The punishments reflected a volatile mix of anger, grief, and a desire for moral purification after years of occupation.

In towns and villages across France, these women became symbols onto whom collective resentment and shame were projected, often without evidence, due process, or any opportunity for defense.

Historians have since emphasized that the épuration sauvage was not a measured response to collaboration, but a chaotic release of vengeance in a society struggling to process defeat, occupation, and liberation all at once.

While some forms of collaboration were later addressed through formal trials, the public shaming of women accused of sexual collaboration remains one of the most striking and troubling episodes of the post-war reckoning.

The episode stands as a reminder of how, in moments of societal collapse and recovery, justice can give way to spectacle, and the most vulnerable can become targets of collective rage rather than lawful judgment.