At the age of 17, she became active in the Tunisian Communist Party, promoting anti-fascist struggles and resisting the German occupation of Tunisia from November 1942 to May 1943. During that time, she met Aldo Bessis (1918-1969) and they married on 3 February 1944, but she did not change her last name to Bessis until her first daughter Sophie Bessis was born.[1][2]