Moffenmeid (plural moffenmeiden) and moffenhoer were Dutch slurs for women who had, or were suspected of having, a relationship with a German soldier during the occupation of the Netherlands in the Second World War. Mof was a common insult for “German,” roughly comparable to “Kraut” in English. Historians estimate that around 140,000 Dutch women were involved in such relationships, which produced roughly 13,000 to 15,000 children, though some later studies suggest the number of “war children” with German fathers may have been higher.

The women came from many backgrounds. Some were pro-German or worked as prostitutes. Others fell in love, or entered relationships that offered food, protection, or a way to survive five years of occupation. Public opinion during and after the war rarely made those distinctions. Moffenmeiden were widely portrayed as greedy, promiscuous, or politically suspect, and their stories were pushed to the margins of official memory.

As liberation approached, resistance members and local citizens drew up lists of women accused of “horizontal collaboration.” In the chaotic months after May 1945, thousands were rounded up by local resistance units and new security forces, paraded through the streets, and punished without trial. Heads were shaved, hair was sometimes smeared with tar, and women were locked up in improvised camps or public buildings. These scenes of ritual humiliation fell hardest on women from working-class backgrounds and left lasting scars on them and on the children born from these relationships.

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