During the German occupation of France in World War II, the French Resistance fought a brutal underground war. But their enemy was not only the German soldier. It was also the French citizen who chose to collaborate with the occupiers.
These collaborators, both men and women, lived in constant fear. They knew the Resistance could strike at any moment. They knew they could be beaten, tortured, or executed.
Women faced a particularly cruel ordeal in French towns and cities. They were forcibly shaved and beaten in the streets for allegedly having relationships with German soldiers. This was part of a vicious purge campaign.
The Resistance launched attacks and executed thousands of people in towns across France. They gathered their enemies and shot them in front of thousands of spectators. But why were French collaborators executed, and how brutal were these killings?
The Resistance saw collaboration as treason. It was a direct threat to the struggle against German occupation. When the Allies landed on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944, no one knew if the invasion would succeed. Some believed the Germans would fight back.
The Resistance understood that striking their enemies was about confronting danger as much as it was about revenge. The circumstances of the executions varied. Some collaborators were deliberately killed or assassinated during the occupation because they were known to be helping the occupiers.
Others were executed after quick sham trials, or with no legal basis at all. Many were killed in chaotic revenge operations.
After France’s defeat in June 1940, the country was divided. The Germans occupied part of the territory, while the authoritarian Vichy regime, led by Marshal Philippe Petain, controlled the rest. Vichy France collaborated with the Nazis. They imposed oppressive laws on the population and helped persecute and deport many people.
Collaboration was not limited to government officials and powerful politicians. French police officers, members of the militia, informers, journalists, and sometimes ordinary civilians worked directly with the occupation authorities.
For Resistance groups, informers were a major danger. A single informer could reveal the names of Resistance members, identify safe houses, or expose weapons caches, radio operators, and escape routes. The consequences could include torture, execution, or deportation to concentration camps.
Resistance organizations sometimes ordered the killing of suspected informers before they could betray more people. From the Resistance point of view, these killings were not just punishments. They were meant to protect secret networks from destruction.
Some collaborators actively hunted Resistance members. The Milice was a paramilitary organization created by the Vichy government and Prime Minister Pierre Laval. They were known for their particular brutality. They arrested Resistance members, tortured prisoners, and took part in executions. They were the men who actually pulled the trigger to kill Resistance fighters.
Resistance fighters did not consider Milice members mere political opponents. They saw them as armed enemies helping the Germans suppress the liberation of France from Nazi tyranny. As a result, Milice officers and other armed collaborators became major targets for assassination teams.
Killing prominent collaborators also served as a warning. Resistance organizations wanted to prove that collaborating with the occupiers had serious consequences. Assassinating an informer, a police officer, or a pro-German official could deter others from helping the Germans. It could also reassure the French people that the occupation authorities and their French supporters were not above accountability.
Some attacks were deliberately carried out to weaken the occupation machine. French police officers, railway officials, and local administrators provided German soldiers with information. They guarded strategic sites and helped arrest the persecuted and Resistance members. When collaborators played an operational role in the occupation, the Resistance viewed them as military targets. Their deaths were part of the armed struggle to liberate France.
There was also an enormous amount of anger built up during the four years of occupation. The French suffered from food shortages, forced labor, deportation, and harsh German reprisals. For every German soldier killed by Resistance activity, hundreds of French people were often executed in retaliation.
When German forces withdrew, that anger was often directed at those who had benefited from or supported the occupation. It was seen as revenge by Resistance members who were settling accounts for friends and relatives who had been arrested, tortured, deported, or killed.
But Resistance justice was never consistent. Sometimes it could not even be called justice at all. France had many Resistance movements with different beliefs, ideas, and standards of discipline. Some groups carefully investigated collaboration charges and required senior approval before carrying out an execution. Secret courts were sometimes held in hiding to discuss executions.
But many other groups, especially from 1944 onward, and under desperate conditions, shot and executed people without asking any questions. This was connected to the idea of wild purges, where people were shot immediately after being captured.
Violence against collaborators increased as the Allies invaded Normandy. The criminal authority was beginning to collapse, and the Vichy state was falling apart. No one knew what was happening. Charles de Gaulle was giving orders from his safe haven in Britain, but formal courts were not available.
During that period, thousands were shot without the usual judicial procedures. Resistance units gathered many people, and some were killed by local armed forces or angry civilians. Some of those executed had undoubtedly committed serious crimes, such as reporting Resistance members, torturing prisoners, or serving in armed collaborationist organizations. Others were killed based on evidence that was weak at best.
Some Resistance members also used armed action to settle personal scores. It is believed that in these executions, approximately 8,000 to 10,000 people were killed without any questions asked.
One example was the execution of Milice members in the city of Grenoble. An eyewitness who saw the execution directly described the scene. The crowd rushed to watch like it was a circus, laughing and cheering loudly, racing to surround the execution sites. People pushed each other to get a good view.
Fierce anger prevailed that day. Those who had suffered under the occupation wanted to see justice done. Six men were led to their execution site where wooden posts had been driven into the ground. Resistance officers approached the men and tied them to the posts by their arms and legs so they could not move.
The six condemned men walked toward the execution posts without begging or resisting. They turned and leaned their backs against the posts. The youngest prisoner was only 19 years old. The oldest was 26. The two youngest were tied to the posts at the ends.
They were not heroes by any means. They had opposed France, and some were still shooting on the day of liberation. But no one denied that they would also face death. They did not kneel, they did not sigh, and they did not avoid the gun barrels of the firing squad.
Special attention was paid to the 19-year-old boy. He was looking at the sky above the firing squad. But he would never feel rain again, and he would never see the beautiful Alps above the city. He stood there until the firing squad suddenly fired without any signal. The bullets seemed to pierce the chest and heart of the dead man. The shooting was carried out twice. The boy leaned forward and then fell backward onto the post. He would never look at the sky again.
But not everyone accused of collaboration was executed. Marshal Philippe Petain somehow survived execution, perhaps because of his old age. Many others were sentenced to prison instead. As mentioned, women were publicly shaved for having relationships with Germans.
The execution of French collaborators had many different causes. It was a defensive measure aimed at protecting Resistance networks. It was an attempt to punish traitors whose betrayal had been proven. And it was a way to intimidate others who might consider helping the Germans.
But during the liberation, thousands were led through French towns and cities and shot in front of large crowds. The purges were chaotic, brutal, and often indiscriminate. They reflected the fury of a nation that had suffered for four years under occupation and wanted those who had helped the enemy to pay.