Prostitution and collaboration

From the time the German advance stalled in 1914, Lille increasingly became a place of rest and entertainment for members of the German army who were brought here for the opportunity to enjoy German theatre, visit the Fine Arts Museum and attend concerts. But very often, the German soldiers saw in Lille a chance to escape the filth of the trenches and make the most of life again. This being the case, Lille offered numerous diversions with its bars, cafés and pubs. For a third or even half of them, prostitution was a supplementary or primary source of income. Very often, the German soldiers only realised the risks they were running when it was too late, with the appearance, after their intimate encounters, of the first symptoms of disease.
Prostitution developed behind the front in the occupied towns. For the young women, it was often a means of escaping the severe deprivation of the period of occupation. During the War, prostitution was the subject of active oversight on the part of the German military authorities. Police investigations after the War sought, first, to determine whether women having had relations with the Germans were carrying disease and, second, to assess their degree of collaboration with the enemy.