Photographs show scantily clad women partying with Nazi officers and even posing in German SS uniform

Others show women drinking in coffee shops, playing in snow or frolicking in grass meadows with Germans

Although some of the women had little choice in order to survive, many genuinely fell in love with Nazis

Photos provide a rare glimpse of hope, joy and love which transcended national loyalties and persisted

Leaping into their lovers' arms or canoodling on steps in the street, scores of women in Nazi Europe eloped with their German occupiers.

A compilation of photographs, many of which were found among the belongings of German prisoners of war, shows scantily clad women partying with Nazi officers while some even posed in the German SS uniform.

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Other images show women drinking in coffee shops, playing in the snow or frolicking in grass meadows with their German lovers.

While some genuinely fell in love with their Nazi occupiers, other women had little choice in order to survive. Many French prostitutes were ostracised, disrobed and beaten or had their heads shaved in public for sleeping with the German invaders.

True love: A Nazi soldier frolics with his French girlfriend during the German occupation of France which lasted from 1940 to 1944. Although some of the women had little choice in order to survive, many genuinely fell in love with their Nazi occupiers. The moving pictures, found on German prisoners of war, provide a rare glimpse of hope, joy and love which transcended national loyalties and persisted through the horrors of the Second World War

Having a chat: German officers talking to a blonde French lady in occupied France. A collection of images offers a fascinating and troubling insight into what life was like for some women living in close quarters with the enemy under Hitler's regime in western Europe

Canoodling: A German soldier enjoys the company of a French woman in occupied France. With huge numbers of local men either dead, hiding or imprisoned, some women used sex as a means of survival. Leaping into their lovers' arms or canoodling on steps in the street, these women of Nazi Europe eloped with their German occupiers

A photograph of a Nazi soldier and his French girlfriend. His cane suggests that he was recuperating from a war wound. The moving pictures, found on German prisoners of war, provide a rare glimpse of hope, joy and love which transcended national loyalties and persisted through the horrors of Total War

Welcome: A Dutch girl greets the Wehrmacht soldiers as they enter Amsterdam on 15 May 1940. German marriages were explicitly encouraged in occupied Denmark and Holland, as part of Hitler's attempt to create a 'master race' of Aryans

The images offer a fascinating and troubling insight into what life was like for some women living in close quarters with the enemy under Hitler's regime in western Europe.

With huge numbers of local men either dead, hiding or imprisoned, some women used sex as a means of survival in Nazi occupied France.

Despite more than two million Frenchmen being held in prisoner-of-war camps, the birth rate boomed in 1942 with an estimated 200,000 children born to Franco-German couples.

In one of the Nazi-occupied Channel Islands, 900 such babies were registered - whilst Norway saw 12,000 children born. In fact, German marriages were explicitly encouraged in Denmark and Holland.

German soldiers talk to French women outside of the Moulin Rouge, Paris. Despite more than two million Frenchmen being held in prisoner-of-war camps, the birth rate boomed in 1942 with an estimated 200,000 children born to Franco-German couples

Off-duty Wehrmacht soldier spending a day at the pool with his girlfriend in France. Some of the women simply fell in love and married their German beau. Whilst for others, having relations with a Nazi soldier had a lot to offer in a practical sense

A girl wearing an SS officer's uniform

A French woman wearing a Nazi uniform

Some of the women simply fell in love and married their German beau. Whilst for others, having relations with a Nazi soldier had a lot to offer in a practical sense.

Many of these women would have enjoyed better food, living circumstances and night-time entertainment through their liaisons.

In one of the pictures in the collection, a French girl is seen cavorting with her Nazi boyfriend in the snow. She appears to be wearing nylon tights - a luxury item for occupied France and undoubtedly a gift from her German beau.

Several French women who cavorted with Nazi officers were believed to be young mothers, whose husbands were in German prisoner-of-war camps.

During the war, these mothers often had virtually no means of support, and their only hope of obtaining food for themselves and their children was to accept a liaison with a German soldier.

A Dutch woman follows her German husband into captivity in Walcheren, Holland, as she refused to leave him. Meanwhile for many prostitutes, it was business as usual during Nazi occupation and they happily serviced the needs of the German invaders

In one of the pictures in the collection, a French girl is seen cavorting with her Nazi boyfriend in the snow. She appears to be wearing nylon tights - a luxury item for occupied France and undoubtedly a gift from her German beau

Another shows a couple next to the Eiffel Tower

Nazi soldiers swap clothes with their French girlfriends. Several French women who cavorted with Nazi officers were believed to be young mothers, whose husbands were in German prisoner-of-war camps

A young French woman enjoys some leisure time with Nazi soldiers. Photographs show scantily clad women partying with Nazi officers and even posing in the German SS uniform. Others show women drinking in bars, playing in the snow or frolicking in grass meadows with their German lovers.

A girl wears a Nazi uniform

An image found on the persons of a German POW shows a French woman wearing a Nazi uniform saluting to the camera whilst underneath she wears a bathing suit

Nazi officers enthusiastically attended Paris's most famous brothels and nightclubs - and Hitler's propaganda outlets advertised the allures of red-light establishments such as Le Chabanais near the Louvre.

German troops even took over control of some Parisian brothels and expected them to have high standards of hygiene.

Many of the French women who had engaged in 'collaboration horizontale' (having sexual relations with occupying Nazi troops) were punished by having their heads forcibly shaved in public.

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These women were marched down the streets by jeering crowds. Then depending upon how partisans felt, the women might also have been disrobed, tarred, feathered and perhaps beaten.

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A large number of the victims were prostitutes who had simply continued their trade with Germans as well as Frenchmen.

Others were just teenagers who had associated with Nazi soldiers - and women who had abortions and were therefore accused of frolicking with Germans.

A French woman cavorting with members of Hitler's SS in bars and cabarets. Many of the French women who had engaged in 'collaboration horizontale' (having sexual relations with occupying Nazi troops) were punished by having their heads forcibly shaved in public