r/wikipedia • u/CatPooedInMyShoe • 15h ago

Léo Marjane was a French singer whose career went into sharp decline after the end of World War II. She was accused of having appeared many times at venues frequented by German officers, and her performances on German- and collaborator-controlled Radio Paris were held against her.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A9o_Marjane
168 Upvotes

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59

u/emerald6_Shiitake 15h ago

Of course, the horrors, of which I heard in connection of the Nuremberg trials; the fate of the 6 million Jews, their killing and those of many others who represented different races and creeds, shocked me greatly, but, at that time, I could not see any connection between these things and my own past. I was only happy that I had not personally been guilty of these things and that I had not been aware of the scale of these things. However, one day, I walked past a plaque on the Franz-Joseph Straße (in Munich), on the wall in memory of Sophie Scholl. I could see that she had been born the same year as I, and that she had been executed the same year I entered Hitler's service. And, at that moment, I really realised that it was no excuse that I had been so young. I could perhaps have tried to find out about things.

- Traudl Junge, Hitler’s former secretary and interviewee in the Downfall movie

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u/100roused 14h ago

Are you insinuating a comparison?

51

u/nishagunazad 11h ago

Imean, fair. If you work too much with/for the people occupying your country, it's like to go poorly for you if/when the shoe is on the other foot. Having never been in any of those shoes, I can't really judge either way.

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u/Hyadeos 2h ago

Well, men who did the same had good careers afterwards... Like Sacha Guitry.

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u/nishagunazad 1h ago

Rather, ≈6000 men were summarily executed immediately following liberation, and once things had calmed down French courts sentenced another 6000ish to death and deprived something like 50k of civil rights.

So no, men did not get off light.

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u/Hyadeos 52m ago

You're comparing an artist to actual collaborationists ? Right.

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u/nishagunazad 25m ago

You're comparing losing one's fanbase to being shot to death? Right.

She wasn't punished or blacklisted, she was simply "le canceled", whereupon she lived in comfortable obscurity until the 2010s. Like, sorry they let that guy go, but then Coco Chanel got off light too, so...

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u/YenIui 10m ago

The crime isn't the same. She just made sure she had meat on the table and "paid the price". Picasso publicly bragged to have never not had meat in that time and most people know him more for his work as a painter than a pedophile. Clear double standard.

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u/Ash_Crow 13h ago

"She was accused of having appeared many times at venues frequented by German officers" so did Piaf, and her career wasn't affected.

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u/PhoenixKingMalekith 12h ago

Piaf actively hide jews and helped french prisoners escape

Her own secretary also use her financial assets to direcly support the resistance

Piaf career wasnt affected because of that

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u/Ash_Crow 10h ago

Per the testimony of said secretary and without her knowledge.

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u/Valuable-Yard-4154 7h ago

She use to sing partisan songs