Despite confessing, Berton was acquitted on 24 December Berton stopped engaging with anarchist organizations following a subsequent arrest in She died in due to an intentional overdose. Germaine had a good relationship with her father but a difficult relationship with her mother.
In , the Berton family moved to Tours. Germaine was known as a good student at this time, graduating from primary education before attending The School of Fine Arts in Tours.
During this time, she received a first prize award for sight drawing. Following her father's death, Germaine left her schooling to become a factory worker.
In , after turning 13, Germaine fell in love with a soldier who later died during World War I. She then attempted suicide unsuccessfully by throwing herself into the Loire. Germaine would later cite this as beginning of her anti-militarist beliefs. Following the death of her father, Germaine Berton began working in an American equipment factory located in Tours , France.
During her tenure, Germaine was arrested for advocating violence during her speeches. There she helped reconstitute the Metal Workers' Union of Tours before being fired from her current job at the Rimailho factory in Saint-Pierre-des-Corps and earning the nickname "the black virgin" for her union work. Germaine then joined the Anarchist Union of Paris where she continued to write about antimilitarist ideals and encouraged revolutionary action.
