France Culture is broadcasting one of its podcasts on the air this Friday: six episodes to find out who Simone Touseau was, immortalized by Robert Capa at the Liberation.
Was Simone Touseau the mistress of a Nazi? An informer? France Culture questions the face of a person whose name may mean nothing to you, but whom you have surely seen in the shocking shot of photographer Robert Capa. On August 16, 1944, baby in her arms, dressed in white, she comes forward with a shaved head and a forehead marked with a swastika. The crowd revels in his downfall. It’s the Tondue de Chartres, one of the twenty thousand women publicly shaved at the Liberation for having consorted with the enemy. The historian Fabrice Virgili recites hypotheses as to the songs then sung: “It could be The Marseillaise, the International or ringing the dead”. The captivating show brings the scene to life with a sound reconstruction that lets you hear the cries of the street.
What exactly was he accused of? This series from France Culture, produced by Ndjma Bouakra, explores the secrets of photography and its subject. Already at school, Simone draws swastikas and hopes that Hitler will rule France. Very steeped in fascism since the bankruptcy of the family grocery store, she joined the collaborationist party of Jacques Doriot. To probe the complexity of the character, the German Reinhard Huppenbauer – the second cousin of his lover – reads extracts from the rare letters that the couple exchanged. “Erich tried everything to get permission to marry her. “, he assures. Revealing a more human facet of the young mother and the father of her child.
To listen
r Who is the Tondue de Chartres?, on France Culture, Friday July 15, 10 a.m. Directed by: Vincent Decque and Marie Plaçais. 6 x 11 to 14 min.
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