In spite of all the films, memoirs and novels about the Holocaust, it remains an absolutely specific and totally inaccessible Phenomenon.In this long-awaited memoir, Simone Veil describes in vivid detail how her idyllic childhood came to an abrupt end in 1944, when her family was deported to the concentration camps. Veil survived Auschwitz–Birkenau and Bergen–Belsen, but her mother, father, and brother all died in captivity.With undeterred resolve, Simone Veil went on to study law and political science. She later became the minister of health in France, where she fought to legalize abortion, prompting the head of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada to criticize Veil's presence at the sixtieth anniversary of Auschwitz's liberation, writing that she was to be held responsible for a mass murder of human life far exceeding that of the German National Socialists by legalizing and promoting abortion.Simone Veil was elected the first president of the European Parliament in 1979 and later returned to French politics as minister for social affairs. Admired across the world for her personal courage, she has written a sincere and candid account of an extraordinary life, reflecting her humanity and determination to improve political stability and social standards in France and across Europe.

A Life: A Memoir by Simone Veil

Biographies & Memoirs

Veil, Simone

Leaders & Notable People

Haus Publishing

Simone Veil, the former French lawyer and politician who became the first President of the European Union, was born Simone Jacob in 1927. In A Life, she describes in vivid detail a childhood of happiness and innocence spent in Nice that came to an abrupt end in 1944 when, at the age of 17, she was deported with her family to concentration camps. Though she survived, her mother, father, and brother all died in captivity. After the liberation of Auschwitz and upon her return to France, Veil studied law and political science and later became Minister for Health under the government of Jacques Chirac. It was there that she fought a successful political battle to introduce a law legalizing abortion in France. She was elected the first female President of the European Parliament and later returned to French government as Minister for Social Affairs. Over her many years of service, Veil was a bastion of social progress and a powerful individual symbol for the advancement of women’s rights around the world. Veil was one of France’s most beloved public figures, most admired for her personal and political courage. Her memoir, published here in English for the first time, is a sincere and candid account of an extraordinary life and career, reflecting both her humanity and her determination to improve social standards at home and maintain economic and political stability in Europe. In the wake of her passing in 2017, this translation of her memoir stands as a fitting tribute to an unparalleled life of survival, selflessness, and unwavering public service.

A Life

Historical

Seul l'espoir apaise la douleur

Flammarion

Pour les générations futures

ALBIN MICHEL

C’est un événement. Simone Veil accepte enfin de se raconter à la première personne. De son enfance niçoise dans une famille juive complètement assimilée, et de sa déportation à Auschwitz avec sa mère et l’une de ses sœurs en mars 1944, jusqu’à ses fonctions les plus récentes, elle a su s’imposer comme une figure singulière et particulièrement forte dans le paysage politique français. Femme libre s’il en est, elle a exercé le pouvoir sans jamais le désirer pour lui-même mais pour améliorer, autant qu’elle l’a pu, les conditions de vie de ses concitoyens : à l’administration pénitentiaire, puis au ministère de la Santé dans le gouvernement Chirac sous la présidence de Valéry Giscard d’Estaing – c’est là qu’elle fait voter, contre son camp, la loi sur l’IVG ; à la présidence du Parlement européen, où elle se montre capable de tenir tête au Premier Ministre français, Raymond Barre ; comme ministre des Affaires Sociales, de la Santé et de la Ville dans le gouvernement dirigé par Balladur et présidé par François Mitterrand ; au Conseil constitutionnel ainsi qu’à la Fondation pour la mémoire de la Shoah. Fidèle à ce qu’elle estime être la fonction des rescapés des camps de la mort, elle a témoigné, chaque fois qu’elle l’a pu, en France comme partout, de son expérience d’Auschwitz. Mais cette femme de mémoire n’est jamais nostalgique, jamais passéiste, elle n’a souci que du monde de demain, celui qu’elle lèguera à ses petits-enfants et à ses arrière-petits enfants dont la place est grande dans sa vie. Elle a beaucoup voyagé, rencontré la plupart des « grands » de ce monde, vécu de près les événements majeurs du XXe siècle. Elle en parle sans forcer sa voix, mais on l’entend.

Une vie

Literature & Fiction

Essays & Correspondence

Stock

Les hommes aussi s'en souviennent: Une loi pour l'Histoire

Business & Money

Economics

J'Ai Lu

« Elles sont 300 000 chaque année »: Discours de la Ministre Simone Veil pour le droit à lavortement devant lAssemblée nationale, 26 no

Neuwirth, Lucien

Contemporary

POINTS

Discours à l'Assemblée nationale et à l'Académie française

Reference

D'Ormesson, Jean

Chirac, Jacques

Writing, Research & Publishing Guides

L'Aube à Birkenau - nouvelle édition + CD

History

Teboul, David

Military

ARENES

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