Relations interdites
The Fondation Maison des Sciences de l'Homme and Éditions de la MSH are organising an evening to present the book Relations interdites. Prisonniers de guerre français et femmes allemandes pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, published on 16 May 2024.
This Livres en dialogue session will bring together the author of the book, Gwendoline Cicottini, and Marjorie Bertin, journalist at RFI.
At the end of the session, you will have the opportunity to ask our guests any questions you may have. The meeting will be followed by a convivial moment.
During the Second World War, 1.3 million French prisoners found themselves on the territory of the Reich. Gwendoline Cicottini looks at the little-known story of the ‘forbidden relations’ between these French prisoners of war and German civilians. From 1939, such contacts were prohibited by the Verbotener Umgang mit Kriegsgefangenen decree, for reasons of military security and in the name of National Socialist racial ideology. This book shows the gap between the norm and individual practices, reflecting the difficulty of controlling the civilian population in times of conflict. Using a substantial corpus of court files, as well as interviews that give a voice to those involved in this history that has been kept under wraps, the historian traces these relationships, from the conditions of the amorous encounter to the fate of the ‘children of war’.
Gwendoline Cicottini is a historian at the Sandbostel Camp Memorial in Germany. Her research focuses on the history of the Second World War, with particular reference to French prisoners of war, and on the history of gender and sexuality. This book is based on her dissertation, defended in 2020, for which she won the 2021 Michael Werner Dissertation Prize.
Marjorie Bertin has a doctorate in theatre studies from Sorbonne-Nouvelle University and works as a journalist for RFI and RFI Musique. She writes for Transfuge, Alternatives théâtrales and Le Courrier de l'Atlas.) She is also a lecturer and researcher at Sorbonne-Nouvelle University, and her work focuses on the changing face of the arts in the Arab world, a subject on which she has edited an issue of Alternatives théâtrales (Scènes contemporaines des mondes arabes, ♯147, July 2022).
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