Casanova was arrested on 15 February 1942 as she brought coal to Georges Politzer and his wife; she had been involved in organising actions against the German occupiers.

Vincentella Périni was born on 9 January 1909 in Ajaccio, Corsica, to the schoolteacher parents Olivier and Marie Hyacinthe (née Versini).

Still studying, she joined the Central Committee of the movement at the Seventh Congress of June 1932 as its only female member, and took up its direction in February 1934.

[3] In October 1938, Danielle served as leader of the French delegation to the United States at the World Congress of Youth for Peace at Vassar College.

[4] In October 1940, after the fall of France, she helped establish women's committees in the Paris region, while still writing for the underground press, especially Pensée Libre (Free Thought).

[6] On 11 February 1942, Danielle was arrested by French Police while entering the hiding place of a Jewish couple, Georges Politzer and his wife Maï, at 170 bis, rue de Grenelle in the 7th arrondissement.

French Police of the Special Anticommunist Brigade (BS) had been following Danielle since 23 January after spotting her carrying a large suitcase to that same building (it contained coal for the Politzers).

[12] A heroine of French Resistance, she has lent her name to streets, schools, and colleges throughout France; notably Rue Danielle Casanova in Paris.