The Shaved Woman of Chartres

A week after the liberation of Paris, women deemed as collaborators of 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 way 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, and 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 on 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, while her mother, who also suffered the same punishment, is partially covered by him. She is being escorted home, from where she would go to jail.[2]

This case and the picture in particular were the subject of the documentary La Tondue de Chartres (2017), directed by Patrick Cabouat.[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.[5]

A print of the photograph is held at the collection of the International Center of Photography in New York.[6]