Born in Montpellier to an absent Corsican father and an abusive mother, Juliette Gréco (1927-2020) was studying ballet at Opéra Garnier when World War II broke out. After punching a French Gestapo officer in the face, she was captured and tortured by the Nazis along with her sister and mother for their activities with the French Resistance. After her release from a concentration camp, she acted in several notable films, though she was better known as a singer, premiering songs by the likes of Charles Trenet, Serge Gainsbourg, Jacques Brel, and Joseph Kosma. She was a key figure in French literature, politics, and culture during the postwar period.

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