On June 13, 1940, Paris declared undefended, and the Germans entered without firing a single shot, so the war did not cause any damage to Paris. Nine days later, France, known as the world's first army, announced its surrender. 1.8 million French prisoners of war were transported to Germany for hard labor. In order to create a positive image of the German army, Hitler ordered that German soldiers in France must strictly observe military discipline. After being occupied by the Germans, Paris once again presented a scene of peace and tranquility.
June 14, 1941 Germans occupy Paris
During the German occupation, many French women, in order to survive the financial difficulties, forgot their husbands who were imprisoned in prisoner-of-war camps and quickly threw themselves into the arms of the Germans. From 1935 to 1939, the French birth rate had been negative, but during the German occupation of France, the French crime rate fell sharply, while the birth rate increased dramatically. According to post-war statistics, there were about 200,000 illegitimate children left by the German army during the occupation of France, but the actual number should be far more than that, and many French women chose to hide it for fear of retaliation.
French women during the German occupation
After the Normandy landings, on August 19, 1944, the French resistance held an uprising in Paris and began a street battle with the Germans. On the 25th, Lieutenant General Scholtitz, the supreme commander of the German army in Paris, refused to carry out Hitler's order to blow up Paris and led 13,000 German defenders to surrender to the Allies.
French woman with a shaved head
After the liberation of Paris, members of the French Resistance began to hunt down French women close to the German army, and this behavior quickly spread throughout France, and 1 million French women were questioned for their close ties with the German army during the fall, of which 100,000 were punished, 50,000 women were shaved and paraded the streets, some women committed suicide because of humiliation, and in some areas there were even cases of pro-German women being abused to death. The atrocities committed by the French towards these women have drawn condemnation from all over the world.
Member of the French Resistance in World War II
In the face of the German invasion, French men did not assume the responsibility of defending their homeland and protecting their families, but were willing to be humiliated, surrendered their weapons, and in the more than four years of German occupation of France, the French resistance organization only dared to carry out some underground work of distributing leaflets and collecting intelligence, and killed and blew up several railroad tracks and destroyed the German communication lines. After the Allies liberated France, the French resistance began to persecute these siblings who had been humiliated during the German occupation.
Of these French women, except for a very small number who coveted vanity and pleasure, and most of them lost their livelihood, in order to survive, in order to get food, in order to be able to protect their families, they had no choice but to throw themselves into the arms of the Germans. After the liberation of France, the French, who did not resist the enemy, vented their anger against the Germans on this group of weak women.
American soldiers liberating Paris
Until the end of World War II, American soldiers committed more than 3,500 rapes in France, but only a handful of black soldiers were brought to court-martial, and most of the remaining cases were exempted from prosecution for lack of evidence. In the face of the Americans, the French men once again chose collective silence.