Madeleine Truel was born in Lima, Peru, on August 28, 1904. She studied at the San José de Cluny School in Lima. In 1924, she traveled to France and studied Philosophy at the Sorbonne University. During World War II, she joined the French Resistance, where she forged documents. On June 15, 1944, she was arrested and sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in Germany. She died on one of the so-called "death marches" on May 3, 1945.