During the Second World War, there was a shocking spectacle which horrified the Allied soldiers who liberated different French towns. Women were being paraded throughout the streets and were subjected to brutal acts of violence and suffering. Many of them had their heads shaved, and were beaten, and in Paris some women were even killed by the angry crowds. Many of the women had their heads marked with the swastika and other nazi symbols, but what was so awful that these seemingly civilian women were being treated like this? They were allegedly guilty of what was known as horizontal collaboration, or more simply they were women who were said to have slept with the enemy, the German soldiers. The fate of these women became known as the ugly carnival, and many were driven out of their homes and the Allies were sometimes sickened by the treatment of the victims. But to the French resistance, this sort of activity was deemed sufficient reprisal for what they believed was the ultimate betrayal.

свернуть