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The Shaved Woman of Chartres (French: La Tondue de Chartres) is a black and white photograph taken by Robert Capa in Chartres on 16 August 1944. 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.

History and description

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 one of these women, Simone Touseau, 23 years old, who had been a translator working for the Germans and was in a relationship with a German soldier since 1941, who bore him a daughter, still a baby when the event took place. She was also accused of denouncing neighbours who ended up being deported, which she denied. 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. She is being escorted home, from where she would be sent to jail.

Cultural references

This case and the picture in particular were the subject of the documentary La Tondue de Chartres (2017), directed by Patrick Cabouat. 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.

Public collections

A print of the photograph is held at the collection of the International Center of Photography in New York.

References

1. "L'Épuration | Robert Capa". December 11, 2012.
2. Match, Paris. "2014 - L'été de la mémoire - La véritable histoire de la tondue de Chartres". parismatch.com.
3. "«La Tondue de Chartres»: une autre histoire derrière l'image, Le Monde, 24 March 2019 (French)". Le Monde.
4. ""La Tondue de Chartres", un documentaire réalisé avec des "fausses" archives, et c'est troublant".
5. "Vous ne connaissez rien de moi". JC Lattès.
6. Robert Capa at the International Center of Photography

• 1944 in France
• 1944 photographs
• Photographs by Robert Capa
• Black-and-white photographs
• French collaboration during World War II
• World War II photographs