Germaine Berton

Germaine Berton
Germaine Berton mugshot, 1923.
Born(1902-06-07)7 June 1902
Died4 July 1942(1942-07-04) (aged 40)
NationalityFrench
MovementIndividualist Anarchism

Germaine Berton (7 June 1902, in Puteaux – 6 July 1942, in Paris) was a French anarchist and trade unionist. She is known for the murder of Marius Plateau, an editor for the Action Française journal and a leader in the royalist organisation Camelots du Roi, in January 1923. Germaine Berton was defended by Henri Torrès during her trial and surrealists have used her mugshot in a number of art pieces. Despite confessing, Berton was acquitted on 24 December 1923.

Berton stopped engaging with anarchist organizations following a subsequent arrest in 1924. In 1925, Berton married Paul Burger, a painter before leaving him in 1935 for René Coillot, a printer. She died in 1942 due to an intentional overdose.