Germaine Tillion, born on May 30, 1907 in Allègre in Haute-Loire, is an emblematic figure of the French Resistance, ethnologist and writer. She devoted her life to the fight against oppression and the defense of human rights.

Germaine Tillion is the daughter of a magistrate and a publisher. She studied ethnology under Marcel Mauss and Louis Massignon at the Collège de France. Her first research took her to Algeria, where she studied Berber societies.