The Shaved Woman of Chartres

This picture was first published in Life magazine and became iconic of the épuration sauvage (wild purge) enacted after the liberation of France and the severe punishment imposed on the French women accused of so-called horizontal collaboration with the German occupiers.

[1] A week after the liberation of Paris, women deemed collaborators with the Nazi regime, especially those who had been romantically or sexually involved with German men, were being punished in France with head shaving and were often paraded through the streets as a means of humiliation, before usually being sent to jail.

The picture depicts her, carrying her daughter in her arms, after the humiliating head shaving had taken place and her forehead had been branded with a red-hot iron as a sign of collaborationism, while she is being paraded in the streets of Chartres, followed by a number of people, including women, children and policemen.

Her father walks ahead, carrying a bag, possibly with the shaved hair, while her mother, who also suffered the same punishment, is partially covered by him.

[3][4] It also inspired a novel by French author Julie Héraclès, titled Vous ne connaissez rien de moi ("You don't know anything about me") and released in 2023.