Paris – France Pays Tribute To Veil, Holocaust Survivor With Pantheon Burial

    4

    The flag-draped coffins of late Auschwitz survivor and French health minister Simone Veil and her late husband Antoine Veil are seen during a national tribute before being laid to rest in the crypt of the Pantheon mausoleum, in Paris, France, July 1, 2018.    Christophe Petit Tesson/Pool via Reuters -Paris – France paid homage on Sunday to Simone Veil, a Holocaust survivor best known for legalising abortion in the 1970s as she joined the country’s great citizens interred in the Pantheon in Paris.

    Join our WhatsApp group

    Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email


    Veil, who died aged 89 on June 30 a year ago, was laid to rest with her husband in the crypt of the Pantheon mausoleum alongside other national icons including authors Emile Zola and Victor Hugo and the philosopher Voltaire.

    Hundreds of people lined sun-drenched streets in central Paris to watch the cortege carrying the caskets of Simone and her husband Antoine pass by. Among them were her two sons, both prominent criminal affairs lawyers.

    “France loves Simone Veil and loves her for her struggles,” President Emmanuel Macron said in a speech at the Pantheon.

    “We wanted Simone Veil to enter the Pantheon without waiting for generations to pass so that her battles, her dignity and her hope remain a compass in these troubled times.”

    A Jewish survivor of a Nazi death camp at Ravensbruck with the prisoner number 78651 tattooed on her arm, she was also a fervent European and civil libertarian, becoming the first directly elected president of the European parliament in 1979.

    Although out of the national limelight since 2007 when she left her seat at France’s top constitutional court, she commanded wide respect across the political spectrum and remained among the most popular politicians in opinion polls.

    Her concentration camp experience had made her a passionate advocate of European union but she was best known in France for legalising abortion when she was health minister in 1974.
    French Republican Guards carry the flag-draped coffins of late Auschwitz survivor and French health minister Simone Veil and her late husband Antoine Veil during a national tribute before being laid to rest in the crypt of the Pantheon mausoleum, in Paris, France, July 1, 2018.    Christophe Petit Tesson/Pool via Reuters
    Virtually unknown when she joined the cabinet, she fought doggedly against a hostile parliament and divided public opinion to push through a bill that became known as “the Veil Law”, making France the first mainly Roman Catholic country to legalize abortion.

    After her death her body was interred at Montparnasse Cemetery, and exhumed for re-burial at the Pantheon.
    French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte follow French Republican Guards who carry the flag-draped coffins of late Auschwitz survivor and French health minister Simone Veil and her late husband Antoine Veil during a national tribute before being laid to rest in the crypt of the Pantheon mausoleum, in Paris, France, July 1, 2018.    Ludovic Marin/Pool via Reuters


    Listen to the VINnews podcast on:

    iTunes | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Podbean | Amazon

    Follow VINnews for Breaking News Updates


    Connect with VINnews

    Join our WhatsApp group


    4 Comments
    Most Voted
    Newest Oldest
    Inline Feedbacks
    View all comments
    dermunkatcher
    dermunkatcher
    5 years ago

    Nebech, a “Jewish” holocaust survivor, and not even Kever Yisroel.
    How many only had the wish to survive so they can be brought to Kever Yisroel.

    5 years ago

    Nebech she replaced Judaism with Liberalism and caused destruction like so many of our brothers and sisters.

    Frish
    Frish
    5 years ago

    כשיורדים יורדים עד למטה

    Phineas
    Phineas
    5 years ago

    How about we lay off judging someone who survived the Holocaust. She wasn’t a perfect Jew, but she suffered for being one.