French lawyer, politician, women’s rights activist, and Holocaust survivor Simone Veil will be the fifth woman to be buried in the Panthéon, alongside 76 men.
Veil famously fought the battle for abortion rights in France and won, legalizing abortion in France in 1974. Additionally, she was the first female president of the European Parliament. Not only did she fight for women’s rights throughout her life as a politician, but she was also the survivor of horrors. As a teenager, Veil was deported to Auschwitz in 1944. She survived, but her mother, father, and brother were killed.
At her funeral at Les Invalides in Paris, President Emmanuel Macron announced that Veil would be laid to rest in the Panthéon, the famous burial place of remarkable French men and women.
“Just as you leave us, Madam, please receive an immense thank you from the French people,” said Macron.
Read a full obituary of her life and monumental accomplishments here. Watch his full eulogy (in English) in the video above, and in French here.
