EHRI Document Blog | "Martyrs, Mothers, Heroines?" (Self-)Representations of Female Concentration Camp Survivors in France, 1945

This post written by Hannah Sprute examines the visual (self-)representation of female political concentration camp survivors in France in the immediate aftermath of liberation. Drawing on press coverage including photos as well as private and studio photographs taken after their return, it explores how former prisoners used images to negotiate identities as resistance fighters and survivors within post-war French society. The post shows how these women used photography to assert social and political agency beyond the roles assigned to them in public discourse.

You can find the post online here: https://blog.ehri-project.eu/2026/09/30/martyrs-mothers-heroines/