Auschwitz survivor, feminist and politician

Born: July 13, 1927;

Died: June 30, 2017

SIMONE Veil, who has died aged 89, was a redoubtable woman who overcame an horrendous childhood to make a significant mark in French and European society and politics. After her release from Auschwitz she qualified as a lawyer and later became the minister of health who persuaded France’s National Assembly to legalise abortion. From 1979 to 1982 Mrs Veil was the first elected president of the European Parliament. It was a life of drama, fulfilment and much courage.

She was considered France’s most popular politician and many thought she would become prime minister. Although she was never a member of a mainstream party she served, from 1993 to 1995, as the unofficial deputy to the centrist premier Edouard Balladur.

Simone Veil (nee Jacob) was born in Nice into a Jewish family and soon experienced the privations of Occupied France when she was banned from her lycée. The family were arrested and she, her mother and sister were sent to Auschwitz. Her mother died in the camp and her brother and father were never seen again.

Despite the horrors Simone emerged from Auschwitz with a “rage to live” – marrying at 19 Antoine Veil whom she had met while reading law in Paris. She qualified as a magistrate in 1956 and rose rapidly to become in 1970 general secretary of the Conseil supérieur de la magistrature.

As Minister of Health in 1974 she pioneered a law through the General Assembly legalising abortion in France. It was a hugely controversial proposal and she was much criticised by the Catholic church, the media and manifestly split politicians: Jacques Chirac (the Prime Minister) was in favour while Valéry Giscard d’Estaing (the President) was firmly against. Campaigners outside the Chamber chanted, “Let them live”: but the bill passed thanks to the persistence and perspicacity of Ms Veil and it is now called La loi Veil.

She never imagined the bill would cause so much animosity. In the chamber there were just nine women and 481 men yet Mrs Veil retained a calm and authoritative manner. "I did not imagine the hatred I would stir up," Mrs Veil once said. "There was such hypocrisy. The assembly was mainly filled with men, some of whom were secretly looking to arrange an abortion for a mistress.”

She was a forward-looking health minister and pioneered birth control pills and inaugurated an anti-smoking campaign (despite her own 60-a-day habit). When she moved to the European Parliament Giscard d’Estaing wished her well and said, “We will all miss your smile.”

In 1994 Simone Veil sat next to the Queen at Arromanches for the 50th anniversary of D-Day. The Queen said of her: “By the courage which she and a multitude like her displayed in the Nazi concentration camps, she represents perfectly why we are here today: to remember, and give thanks for deliverance.” Mrs Veil brushed away the tears.

All her life she tended to wear dresses with long sleeves - her left forearm still carried the number tattooed on it at Auschwitz.

Mrs Veil was a staunch Europhile, a resolute feminist, and a lady of much strength and foresight. When in 2010, she was elected to the Académie Mrs Veil was hailed as, “a model of independence”. She said it was her experiences in the Nazi concentration camps that made her a firm believer in the unification of Europe.

"The idea of war was for me something terrible," Ms Veil said in a 2007 interview. "The only possible option was to make peace."

She was made an honorary DBE in 1998 and received numerous honorary degrees including from both the universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Her husband died in 2013 and Mrs Veil is survived by her two surviving sons.

ALASDAIR STEVEN