When Liberation Meant Demonization: France’s “Ugly Carnivals”

 When Liberation Meant Demonization: France’s “Ugly Carnivals”

 

When Liberation Meant Demonization: France’s “Ugly Carnivals”

After France was liberated from German occupation, many within the country borrowed Nazi tactics to publicly shame women.

From 1940 to 1944, Nazi Germany occupied northern and western parts of France, in what to this day remains a source of deep humiliation for the country.

Moments after France was liberated in the summer of 1944, celebration expanded to include demonization, with Allied victors engaging in some of the same revenge tactics against women as their enemies.

Many French women believed to have had children or collaborated with German occupiers were publicly humiliated. Sometimes this meant having their heads shaved; other times -- even in addition to head shavings -- it meant public beatings.

The decision to shave a women's head is

The decision to shave a woman's head is imbued with gender power dynamics. In the dark ages, the Visigoths removed a woman's hair to punish her for committing adultery, according to historian Anthony Beevor.