Edith Piaf had a powerful voice, but a fragile heart – much like the majority of the French population during the Nazi reign. After two and a half years spent in Germany at the onset of World War II, Edith, along with other French celebrities, discreetly left Europe and arrived at the port of Casablanca a week prior to the bombing by the American forces.

Throughout her life, Edith Piaf – whose grandmother was of Berber descent from Morocco – kept her Moroccan roots a closely guarded secret, as it was uncommon for high–ranking members of French society to have ties to Morocco. It wasn‘t until twenty–five years after her death that documents from the Nuremberg Tribunal were made public, and the possibility of the singer being tried for her assistance to the Nazis surfaced.

An unconfirmed anecdote (spoken by the photographer who took a picture of Piaf with prisoners) claimed that Piaf had visited concentration camps not only for the entertainment of the German leadership, but also to help several French prisoners escape. General Charles de Gaulle ultimately chose to commemorate Piaf as a hero.