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| Photo: Ariel J Friedlander |
Looking for a particular photograph, I came upon a group of black and white pictures that I'd taken in the 1980's. I've always rather liked these ones of Simone Veil.
Simone Veil was a French Jew who survived Auschwitz-Birkenau and made a life back in France as a lawyer and a politician. She was at the forefront of the fight for legal abortion in her country. She became President of the European Parliament in 1979. Amongst the honours awarded her were (honorary) Dame of the British Empire, the Grand Cross of the Légion d'Honneure, and her face & story recorded on a €2 coin. She was the 6th woman ever to enter the Academie Française*, and the 5th woman in history to be buried in the Panthéon**.
I wish for the life of me I could remember when and where I met and photographed her. At first I thought it must have been the Remembering for the Future conference in Oxford in 1988, but I don't think she was there. The other possibility that comes to mind is that it was an assignment when I was the photographer for the Jewish Herald newspaper in London.
To find out more about her, here are some obituaries:
The Economist (paywall)
New York Times (paywall)
The Times (paywall)
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| Photo: Ariel J Friedlander |
* ok, the other women in the Academie Française are/were:
Marguerite Yourcenar (writer)
Jacqueline de Romilly (classical Greek scholar)
Hélène Carrère d'Encausse (political historian)
Florence Delay (writer & actress)
Assia Djebar (writer & film-maker)
as for what the Academie does - here is an inkling
** and the other 4 in the Panthéon are:
Marie Curie
Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz (hero of the Resistance)
Germaine Tillion (hero of the Resistance)
Sophie Berthelot (a bit problematic as she was buried with her husband on the same day rather than for her own achievements)
You can read more about them here.
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