After attending the local school, she planned to become a history teacher, but the family's income would not allow her to pursue further studies, so she became a shorthand typist, beginning work in 1927.
In 1929, she married a German Communist, Aloys Bayer, and travelled with him to Berlin and later to Moscow, where she worked for the Komintern.
Dutilleul bought a small house near Bordeaux, in order to shelter and liaise with the Communist Resistance leader Charles Tillon.
[4] She was arrested on 15 May 1941, using the false name "Jeanne Dessard", and was sentenced to four years imprisonment, which she began serving at Petite Roquette, Fresnes Prison and Rennes.
Dutilleul was a member of the central committee of the PCF from 1945 to 1950, but was not re-elected, possibly because of her tacit support for Tito.