In Hell’s Sightlines

A joyful original work and a unique musical testimony from a survivor of the world war II.

Germaine Tillon (1907-2008) was an ethnologist well known for her work on Algeria in the 1950s. As member of the French Resistance, she was imprisoned in the Ravensbruck death camp. She arrived on October 21 of 1943. There she secretly wrote an operate libretto “In Hell’s Sightlines” to entertain her cell mates.

In 2018, Isabelle Olivier, during one of her concert in Chicago, met Jeanne Madeleine Golestaneh – a 96-year-old French lady living in Chicago. She was also imprisoned in Ravensbruck at the age of 17 and got to know Germaine Tillon well. Since then, Isabelle and Madeleine have been carrying out a work of memory, culminating of April 15, 2021.

The message Madeleine wishes to convey to the younger generations is one of peace, hope, joy, and laughter. In the face of tragedy, man has the power to transcend the insurmontable and activate the the process of resilience. “I believe that laughter, even in the most tragic situations, is a reviving element”. Germaine Tillon