French prostitutes had the time of their lives under Nazi occupation

London, Apr 12 (ANI): The French life under Nazis was not all resistance, hardship and suffering, suggests a book, which describes the Nazi occupation as the "golden age" of the French brothel.

The tome, 1940-1945, Erotic Years, is a hefty volume written by Patrick Buisson, The Times reports.

Before the war, brothels in France were on the verge of closure. But as the abolitionist league gained force, the so-called maisons enjoyed a dramatic revival thanks to German soldiers who poured into France.

Some maisons were exclusively reserved for officers, whose good looks and gallantry won them admirers in a country whose natives were rather less charming with prostitutes.

"I'm almost ashamed to say it," Fabienne Jamet, a madame at one of the top addresses, is quoted as saying, referring to debauched, champagne-drenched soirées, "but I've never had so much fun in my life. Those nights of the occupation were fantastic."

It is estimated that 200,000 children were born to Franco-German couples during the war."That the departure of the Germans caused thousands of women deep affliction . . . is one of those facts that political necessity commands us to ignore," writes Buisson, director of France's History Channel and a presidential adviser.

Members of the artistic and literary elite were "particularly sensitive to the seductiveness of the enemy", the author says.

"In less than an hour," writes Buisson, "a girl who sells her charms to the occupier can earn up to three times the daily allowance that was given to the wives of French prisoners of war in 1941." (ANI)