Simone Veil

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Simone Veil
DBE
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Veil in 1982
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Member of the Constitutional Council
In office
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Appointed byRené Monory
PresidentPage Template:Plainlist/styles.css has no content.
Preceded byJean Cabannes
Succeeded byRenaud Denoix de Saint Marc
Minister for Social Affairs, Health and Urban Issues
In office
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PresidentFrançois Mitterrand
Prime MinisterÉdouard Balladur
DeputyPhilippe Douste-Blazy
Preceded byBernard Kouchner
Succeeded byÉlisabeth Hubert
13th President of the European Parliament
In office
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Preceded byEmilio Colombo
Succeeded byPiet Dankert
Member of the European Parliament
for France
In office
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Preceded byConstituency established
Succeeded byJean-Marie Vanlerenberghe
Minister of Health
In office
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PresidentValéry Giscard d'Estaing
Prime MinisterPage Template:Plainlist/styles.css has no content.
Preceded byMichel Poniatowski
Succeeded byJacques Barrot
Personal details
BornSimone Annie Jacob
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Nice, France
DiedScript error: No such module "person date".
Paris, France
Resting placePanthéon
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(m. 1946; died 2013)​
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Simone Veil DBE (Script error: No such module "IPA".; née Simone Annie Jacob; 13 July 1927 – 30 June 2017) was a French magistrate, Holocaust survivor and politician. Deported as a teenager to Auschwitz-Birkenau and later Bergen-Belsen, she became a prominent advocate for human dignity and European reconciliation. As minister of health, she championed women's rights and is best remembered for the landmark 1975 law legalising abortion, known as the Veil Act (Template:Langx).

In 1979, Veil became the first woman elected President of the European Parliament, symbolising both her stature and her commitment to European integration as a guarantee of peace. She later served on France’s Constitutional Council (1998–2007), the country’s highest legal authority, and as president of the Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah, where she contributed to Holocaust remembrance and education.

Honoured nationally and internationally, she was elected to the Académie Française in 2008, received the grand cross of the Légion d’honneur in 2012, and was awarded numerous doctorates honoris causa abroad. After her death in 2017, she and her husband, Antoine Veil, were interred at the Panthéon in July 2018 during a state ceremony led by President Emmanuel Macron.[3]

Early years and family

Simone Jacob was born on 13 July 1927 to an atheist Jewish family in Nice. Her father André Jacob was an architect who graduated from the Beaux-Arts de Paris and went on to win the Prix de Rome for Architecture.Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. In 1922 he married Yvonne Steinmetz, who had just passed her Baccalauréat and was about to start studying chemistry. André Jacob insisted that she abandon her studies upon marriage.Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. The family had moved from Paris to Nice in 1924, hoping to benefit from construction projects on the Côte d’Azur.Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. Simone was the youngest of four siblings, Madeleine (nicknamed Milou), born in 1923; Denise, born in 1924 and Jean, born in 1925.Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. Her father's family had come from Lorraine, while her mother’s side came from the Rhineland region and from Belgium.Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.

Simone's family was explicitly Jewish but non-practicing.[4] "Being a member of the Jewish community was never a problem. It was proudly claimed by my father, but for cultural reasons, not religious ones", she wrote in her autobiography. "In his eyes, if the Jewish people were to remain the chosen people, it was because they were the people of the Book, the people of thinking and writing."[5]

Deportation

When Germany invaded France and the Vichy regime came to power in June 1940, the family managed to avoid being deported, as Nice had been included in the Italian occupation zone.Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. Asked not to come to school by its superintendent, Simone Jacob had to study at home. As the round-up of Jews intensified, the family split up and lived with different friends under false identities. Denise left for Lyon to join the resistance, while 16-year-old Simone continued studying and passed her baccalauréat exam under her real name in March 1944.Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. The next day she was arrested by the Gestapo on her way out to meet friends and celebrate the end of her secondary education.Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. The rest of her family was also arrested on that day.

On 7 April 1944, Simone, her mother, and her sisters were sent to the transit camp of Drancy, then on 13 April were deported to Auschwitz in Convoy 71.Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. Simone’s brother and father were deported to the Baltic states in Convoy 73, never to be seen again, and thus assumed to have been murdered. Her sister Denise was deported to the Ravensbrück concentration camp, which she survived, and after the end of World War II in Europe was reunited with Simone.

On 15 April 1944, Simone arrived at Auschwitz. She later wrote that she managed to avoid the gas chamber by lying about her age and was registered for the labour camp.Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. In January 1945, Simone, along with her mother and sister, was sent on a march to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where her mother died of typhus. Madeleine also fell ill but, like Simone, was saved when the camp was liberated on 15 April 1945.Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.

Return to France

Simone Jacob returned to France and started studying law at the University of Paris before going to the Institut d'études politiques, where she met Antoine Veil.Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. The couple married on 26 October 1946, and would go on to have three sons, Jean, Nicolas, and Pierre-François. They moved to live in the American occupation zone in Germany.Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. In 1952, Madeleine Jacob died with her son in a car accident after visiting Simone in Stuttgart.Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.

Political career

Ministry of Justice, 1956–1974

After graduating from the Faculty of Law of Paris with a law degree, Veil spent several years practising law. In 1954, she passed the national examination to become a magistrate.[6]Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. She entered the National Penitentiary Administration under the Ministry of Justice, where she held a senior position and was responsible for judicial affairs.[7] She improved women's prison conditions and the treatment of incarcerated women.[7] In 1964, she left to become the director of civil affairs, where she improved French women's general rights and status.[6] She successfully achieved the right to dual parental control of family legal matters and adoptive rights for women.[6] In 1970, she became secretary general of the Supreme Magistracy Council [fr].[7]

Minister of Health, 1974–1979

From 1974 to 1979, Veil served as Minister of Health in the governments of Prime Ministers Jacques Chirac and Raymond Barre. She held successive portfolios: Minister of Health (28 May 1974 – 29 March 1977); Minister of Health and Social Security (29 March 1977 – 3 April 1978); and Minister of Health and Family (3 April 1978 – 4 July 1979).[8]

During her tenure, she advanced two major pieces of social legislation. The first, adopted on 4 December 1974, expanded access to contraception, including the combined oral contraceptive pill, which had been legalised in 1967.[9]

The second, adopted on 17 January 1975, legalised abortion in France under specific conditions, and is widely regarded as a turning point in French social policy.[6][10] The parliamentary debate surrounding the law was marked by exceptional hostility, including personal attacks directed at Veil and her family by opponents of reform. The legislation, commonly referred to as the Veil Act, later became central to her public legacy, and she was frequently honoured for her role in its passage.[6][10]

In 1976, Veil also contributed to the introduction of restrictions on smoking in certain public places and addressed the issue of unequal access to medical care in rural areas.[11]

European Parliament, 1979–1993

File:Simone Veil02b.jpg
Simone Veil in Deauville in 1988.

In 1979, Veil was elected to the European Parliament in its first direct elections. At the Parliament’s inaugural session, she was elected its first President,[11] a position she held until 1982.[12] The archives relating to her presidency are held at the Historical Archives of the European Union in Florence.[13]

In 1981, Veil was awarded the prestigious Charlemagne Prize, which recognises individuals for their contributions to European unity.[14]

After her presidency ended in 1982, Veil remained a Member of the European Parliament. She was re-elected a last time in 1989, serving until 1993.[12] She also served as Chair of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party until 1989.[12]

Between 1984 and 1992, she served on the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety and the Committee on Political Affairs. She then joined the Committee on Foreign Affairs and its Subcommittee on Human Rights. From 1989 to 1993, she was also a member of Parliament’s delegation to the ACP–EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, serving as its vice-chair until 1992.[12]

Return to French Government, 1993–1995

From 31 March 1993 to 16 May 1995, Veil was again a member of the cabinet, serving as Minister of State and Minister of Health, Social Affairs and the city in the government of Prime Minister Édouard Balladur.[15] In the mid-1990s, as Minister of Health, she introduced a number of measures to support mothers of young children, people with disabilities, and HIV-positive patients.[11]

In 1983, she and her husband founded the Script error: No such module "Lang"., a political think tank intended to bridge divisions between the left and right.[16]

Member of the Constitutional Council, 1998

In 1998, she was appointed to the Constitutional Council of France. In 2005, she put herself briefly on leave from the council in order to campaign in favour of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe. This action was criticized because it seemed to contradict the legal provisions that members of the council should keep a distance from partisan politics: the independence and impartiality of the council would be jeopardized, critics said, if members could put themselves "on leave" in order to campaign for a project.[17] In response, Veil said that she, the president of the Constitutional Council and colleagues had deliberated on the issue beforehand and they had given her permission to take her leave without having to resign. Being a staunch supporter of the European project, she believed others should not "ignore the historical dimension of European integration".[17]

Later life and death

File:Pantheon Veil 2.jpg
The coffins of Simone and Antoine Veil under the dome of the Panthéon on 1 July 2018
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Rue Soufflot on the day of the Panthéon ceremony
File:Panthéon - Les époux Veil au fond.jpg
The tombs of Simone and Antoine Veil in the crypt of the Panthéon

In 2003, she was elected to the Board of Directors of the International Criminal Court's Trust Fund for Victims. In 2007, Simone Veil supported presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy. She was by his side on the day after he received 31 per cent of the vote in the first round of the presidential elections that year.[18]

In 2008, Simone Veil became the sixth woman to be elected to the Académie française. She joined the Academy's forty "immortals", as the members are informally known, occupying the 13th seat, once the seat of literary figure Jean Racine. Her induction address was given in March 2010 by Jean d'Ormesson. On her sword, given to her as to every other immortal, are engraved her Auschwitz number (number 78651), the motto of the French Republic (liberté, égalité, fraternité) and the motto of the European Union, Unity in diversity (Unis dans la diversité).[19]

Veil died at her home on 30 June 2017, at age 89.[20] Her son Jean said at her public ceremony on 5 July, "I forgive you for having poured water over my head", in reference to an event where she had emptied a carafe of water over his head in disgust at what she considered to be his misogynist remarks.[11]

Veil has been described by scholars and institutions as a committed humanist whose political and European engagement was grounded in respect for human dignity, human rights, democracy and equality.[21]

On 5 July 2017, Veil was honoured with a national ceremony and military honours in the courtyard of les Invalides,[22] after which she was interred next to her husband, who died in 2013, at Montparnasse Cemetery.[23] The ceremony at les Invalides was attended by President Macron, Holocaust survivors, politicians and dignitaries. In his speech during the ceremony, President Macron announced the decision to rebury Veil and her husband in the Panthéon,[24] which was done on Template:Dts.[25]

Personal life

Honours

National honours

Foreign honours

Awards

Honorary degrees

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  • Princeton University (United States), 1975Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.
  • Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel), 1976Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.
  • Bar-Ilan University (Israel), 1979Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.
  • University of Cambridge (England), 1980Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.
  • Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1980Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.
  • Yale University (United States), 1980Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.
  • Georgetown University (United States), 1981Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.
  • University of Urbino (Italy), 1981Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.
  • University of Sussex (England), 1982Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.
  • Yeshiva University of New York (United States), 1982Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.
  • Université libre de Bruxelles (Belgium), 1984Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.
  • Brandeis University (United States), 1989Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.
  • University of Glasgow (Scotland), 1995Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.
  • University of Pennsylvania (United States), 1997Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.
  • University of Cassino and Southern Lazio (Italy), 2006Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.
  • Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (Israel), 2010Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.

The Simone Veil Prize

In 2018, the government of France established a prize in memory of Veil to honour people who fight for women's causes.[36] The intent is to draw attention to efforts to promote women's autonomy, education, participation in leadership roles, and freedom from violence and discrimination.[36] The prize is awarded each year on 8 March, International Women's Day, with €100,000 to support work in the winner's area of concern. On 8 March 2019, the first Simone Veil Prize was awarded to Aissa Doumara Ngatansou, co-founder of the Association for the Elimination of Violence against Women (ALVF) in Cameroon.[36][37]

Legacy

Publications

References

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  1. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Sauvard, J. (2012). Simone Veil - La force de la conviction (in français). L'Archipel. p. 204. ISBN 978-2-8098-0682-3.
  2. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Le parcours de Simone Veil auprès des Présidents, de Giscard à Sarkozy". BFMTV (in français). 30 June 2017.
  3. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Katz, Brigit. "France's Simone Veil Will Become the Fifth Woman Buried in the Panthéon". Smithsonian. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  4. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Jacquemart, Claude; Garat, Jean-Baptiste (2 July 2017). "Simone Veil, survivante et immortelle" [Simone Veil, survivor and immortal]. Le Figaro (in français). p. 4.
  5. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Chemin, Anna (30 June 2017). "Mort de Simone Veil, icône de la lutte pour les droits des femmes" [Death of Simone Veil, icon of the fight for women's rights]. Le Monde (in français). Retrieved 13 July 2023.
  6. ^ a b c d e Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Hottell, Ruth. "Simone Veil". Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  7. ^ a b c Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Simone Veil, défenseuse de l'avortement". L'histoire par les femmes (in français). 14 February 2014. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  8. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Simone Veil". Techno-Science.net (in français). 25 January 2026.
  9. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."International Women's Day". TuVida. 8 March 2023.
  10. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Simone Veil, French Holocaust survivor who championed women's rights". FRANCE 24. 20 September 2016. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  11. ^ a b c d Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Casassus, Barbara (22 July 2017). "Obituary Simone Veil". The Lancet. 390 (10092): 356. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(17)31880-9. S2CID 54386828.
  12. ^ a b c d Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Simone VEIL: History of parliamentary service". Europa.eu. European Parliament. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
  13. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Cabinet de la Présidence Simone Veil". archives.eui.eu. Retrieved 23 February 2018.
  14. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Bahrain business pioneer Veil mourned". Trade Arabia. Archived from the original on 7 July 2014. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  15. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Décret n° 76 du 30 MARS 1993 RELATIF LA COMPOSITION DU GOUVERNEMENT" [Decree n° 76 of 30 MARCH 1993 RELATING TO THE COMPOSITION OF THE GOVERNMENT]. Légifrance (in français). Retrieved 13 July 2023.
  16. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Toulon, Adama (12 October 2022). "French Magistrate and Politician". Heroines of Our Time by Adama Toulon.
  17. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Référendum : Simone Veil répond à Debré". My TF1 News (in français). Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
  18. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Simone Veil rallie Sarkozy" [Simone Veil rallies Sarkozy]. L'Express (in français). Reuters. 8 March 2007.
  19. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Hardach, Sophie (18 March 2010). "Auschwitz survivor Veil joins Academie Francaise". U.K. Archived from the original on 27 November 2020.
  20. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Simone Veil est décédée à 89 ans" [Simone Veil died at 89]. Le Journal du Dimanche (in français). 30 June 2017.
  21. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Gender equality at the heart of the European project:…". Renew Europe. 7 January 2020.
  22. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."French rights champion Simone Veil given coveted place in Panthéon". The Guardian. 5 July 2017.
  23. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Roe, David (5 July 2017). "France buries women's rights icon Simone Veil". Radio France Internationale.
  24. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Breeden, Aurelien (5 July 2017). "Simone Veil to Be Laid to Rest in Panthéon, Among France's Revered". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.
  25. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Simone Veil". Gariwo. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  26. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Simone Veil, la grande dame de la place Vauban". lejdd.fr (in français). 2 July 2017.
  27. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Simone Veil faite grand'croix de la Légion d'honneur" [Simone Veil made Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour]. Le Parisien (in français). 10 September 2012. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
  28. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Veil, Simone (1 September 2009). A life. Haus Publishing.
  29. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Intermark, IT. "Simone Veil - Princess of Asturias Awards - The Princess of Asturias Foundation". The Princess of Asturias Foundation.
  30. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Simone Veil, laureate of the North-South Prize 2007". Committee of Ministers Chairmanships. 13 March 2019.
  31. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.S.A., Sarenet (19 June 2008). "King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía honour Simone Veil". SUR in English. Archived from the original on 15 July 2023. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  32. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Coudenhove-Kalergi-Plakette: Preisträger" [Coudenhove-Kalergi Badge: Recipients]. Europa Union Deutschland, Kreisverband Münster (in Deutsch). Retrieved 30 January 2017.
  33. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."The Schiller Prize of the City of Marbach am Neckar 2019 will be awarded to Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard". Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology (in Deutsch). 6 April 2019. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  34. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."The Jury". Fondation Chirac.
  35. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."New national side of euro coin intended for circulation". eur-lex.europa.eu.
  36. ^ a b c Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Launch of the Simone Veil Prize of the French Republic". France Diplomatie. 8 March 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  37. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Cameroon women's activist wins award in memory of French icon Simone Veil". France 24. 8 March 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  38. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Solís, Jose (18 August 2023). "Simone Veil biopic explores serving others in a world that inflicts pain". National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
  39. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.O'Sullivan, Feargus (12 July 2024). "Rethinking What an Urban Bridge Can Do". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
  40. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Simone Veil. Mes sœurs et moi". Mémorial de la Shoah (in français). 23 February 2026.

Sources

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