80,000 French women volunteered to work for Hitler. Then France erased them.
Starting in 1940, 80,000 women left France to work in factories in Nazi Germany, encouraged by the Vichy government. These young, urban women often left more out of social precariousness than ideology. However, upon their return to France in 1945, these "volunteer" workers were branded as collaborators. As a result, many remained silent, and their story, considered taboo, fell into oblivion. This historical investigation combines personal drama with documents and archives that have never been examined before.
Direction
Necek excavates silence with surgical precision.
Editing
Unseen archives collide with oral testimony.
Director
Barbara Necek
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The French term 'la collaboration horizontale' specifically shamed women for alleged sexual relations with Germans, while economic collaboration by men was largely forgiven.
Necek spent years convincing families to open locked drawers—many descendants discovered these histories for the first time during filming.
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