Elsa Triolet , born Ella Yurievna Kagan , was a Russian-French writer. Ella Kagan was born into a Jewish family of Yuri Alexandrovich Kagan, a lawyer and Yelena Youlevna Berman, a music teacher in Moscow. She and her sister Lilya Brik received excellent educations; they were able to speak fluent German and French and play the piano. Ella graduated from the Moscow Institute of Architecture.
