The French used the euphemism Collaboration horizontale (in French Horizontal Collaboration) to describe French women who had sex with the Germans during the Nazi occupation of France during World War II.
After the war, the French counted around 80,000 babies fathered by the German soldiers.
After WWII, 80,000 babies fathered by the Nazis were born to the French women. The Germans called them “The children from the other bank of the Rhine”. During the period of Nazi occupation from 1940 to 1944, France experienced a spectrum of responses from its people. While many bravely resisted the occupation, others collaborated with the Germans, including women.
French women undertook various roles for the Germans, such as working as translators and, unfortunately, some also assisted in denouncing Jews to the Gestapo, much like their male counterparts. However, there were instances where French women engaged in relationships with German soldiers.
French women having sex with German soldiers angered many French men. Actually, the majority of the young French men joined the resistance because their women were dating the Germans.
The French people did not easily forget the betrayal, particularly by women.
Many women were summarily executed by angry mobs and resistance movements without any trial in the days following the liberation in the summer of 1944.
In Brittany, one-third of the people killed by the liberators as an act of revenge were women.
Approximately 20,000 women had their heads shaved. Among them, around 10,000 had been involved in intimate relations with the Germans.
These women received various sentences — some were sentenced to death, especially if they had denounced fellow French citizens to the Nazis, while others were sent to prison, forced labor camps, and many became second-class citizens, losing numerous rights for a certain period.