"France loves Simone Veil"

On Sunday morning, July 1, France paid homage to Simone Veil at the Pantheon, where this 20th century popular figure will now be with her husband among the heroes of French history.

Shortly before At 10:30, the coffins of Simone and Antoine Veil left the Shoah Memorial, where the French paid tribute to the former deported for 48 hours. Under the applause of anonymous, they joined the place Edmond-Rostand where they were placed on catafalques. They then slowly went back to the Pantheon on a long blue carpet, the color symbol of "Peace, understanding between peoples and, of course, Europe," according to the Elysee, who oversees the ceremony. 19659003] The musician Sonia Wieder-Atherton performed a cello solo: "Song in Remembrance of Schubert" from the esplanade of the Pantheon. Then choirs interpreted the song "Night and fog" of Jean Ferrat, and the "song of the marshes".

Simone Veil, from Auschwitz to the Assembly: A Woman's Journey During the course, several women wore T-shirts with a "Thank you Simone", an AFP journalist found. [19659002] "She broke all the glbad ceilings, that of the place of women in society, but also that of the extermination of the Jews: it was a taboo she broke," told AFP a pedestrian in front of the memorial, Bernard Greensfeld

"His always fair struggles"

"She does not enter the Pantheon as a victim of the Holocaust, but as someone who has overcome this horror, and c That's why it is in the hearts of people, "he said.

At 11:30, Emmanuel Macron gave a speech on the forecourt of the Pantheon, whose monumental facade is decorated with French flags and European and a huge photo of Simone and Antoine Veil. "France loves Simone Veil in his always fair, always necessary battles," said the President of the Republic.

Simone Veil at the Pantheon: already 250,000 signatories claim it to MacronDe this entrance to the Pantheon, he announced the 5 July 2017, Emmanuel Macron underlines: "This decision was that of all the French" (two days after its disappearance, 250.000 signatories already asked it).

Emmanuel Macron recalled the participation of Simone Veil, by her testimony, in memory of the Shoah, allowing "France to face what she did not want". The Jewish martyrdom is part of the history of France as the Resistance, he noted, recalling that the former deportee will rest near Jean Moulin. The president mentioned Simone Veil's mother, Yvonne Jacob, née Steinmetz, who died in 1945 at the Bergen-Belsen camp

Simone Veil "bore on her left arm the stigma of her misfortune, this number 78.651 deported to Birkenau It will be engraved on his sarcophagus, "said Emmanuel Macron. With her, "it is the memory of the 78,500 Jews and gypsies deported from France who will come and live in these places."

In his speech, the head of state returned to the combat life of Simone Veil: reconciliation after the Second World War, during which she lost her parents and her brother in deportation, the struggle for women's rights, including the law legalizing abortion in 1975, and the commitment to Europe.

"She who had lived the unspeakable experience of savagery and arbitrariness knew that only dialogue and harmony between peoples would prevent Auschwitz from reborn on the cold ashes of its victims. Europe ", said Emmanuel Macron

" We owe it to Simone Veil not to let the doubts and crises that hit Europe mitigate the brilliant victory that we have won over the last 70 years over the rifts and wanderings. past centuries, "he added. Before sending a message to her fellow citizens, taking in witness the deceased: "May we constantly show us worthy as citizens and as people of the risks you have taken and the paths you have drawn, Madam."

His fights "made the time"

Then, after a Marseillaise sung by Barbara Hendricks and a choir, followed by a minute of silence – with a background sound recording made Auschwitz a few days ago – the two caskets covered with the French flag have entered through the monumental portal of the Pantheon

This entry took place in the presence of the President and his wife Brigitte, two sons still alive of the couple Veil and their descendants, to the sound of a cello solo from Johann Sebastian Bach's suite number 5.

The entry was applauded by the thousand guests and the numerous anonymous people who followed the ceremony around the Pantheon.

Simone Veil will rest with her lice in the sixth vault of the crypt alongside Jean Moulin, Andre Malraux, Rene Cbadin and Jean Monnet, "four great characters of our History", who "were like her masters of hope", according to Emmanuel Macron. [19659002AmongthethousandinvitedguestswereformerpresidentsNicolasSarkozyandFrançoisHollande

"Simone Veil is first for me the heroine of the twentieth century," said Nicolas Sarkozy in the "Journal du dimanche". "She did not yield to her values, she could tolerate disagreements, but she could not tolerate cowardice, hypocrisy, or lies."

That day … Simone Veil says: "I was determined to fight "Simone Veil enters the Pantheon one year after her death on June 30, 2017 at the age of 89, an extremely short time compared to the 76" great men "who preceded her in the secular necropolis

"One of the reasons for this rapid pantheonization is that Simone Veil is a transgenerational figure whose struggles have made the time," explains the Elysee.

A figure of the Republic

the decision taken by the head of state was greeted almost unanimously, the French considering Simone Veil as "a figure of the Republic" that transcends the left-right split, according to the presidency.

In his speech, Emmanuel Macron emphasized inheritance and political messages left behind by the former Minister of Health and first President of the European Parliament

Macron announces that Simone Veil will rest in the Pantheon with her husband "There is a certain paradox, if not an irony, to welcome (to the Pantheon) a great fighter of Europe at a time when what it has helped to build wavers under our eyes ", including Brexit and tensions on the reception of migrants, says the Elysee.

The ceremony also grants great This Holocaust survivor, who lost her parents and her brother in deportation, is reminded of the tragedy experienced during the Second World War. The minute of silence will be "inhabited by the noise of the silence of the concentration camp" Birkenau-Auschwitz, a sound recording recorded by the director David Teboul a few days ago.

For the Elysee, the ceremony is the occasion to cultivate the memory of the deportation which, more than 70 years after, risks dissolving itself with the disappearance of the last survivors.

Fight for the rights of women

From Simone Veil, the French also keep the memory of his fight for women's rights. Its fame and popularity owe much to its struggle to pbad in 1975 the law on abortion, despite the opposition of a large part of the right.

The children of Simone Veil is rejoice that the Elysee has agreed that their mother rests alongside her husband with whom she shared 67 years of married life.

High official then businessman, Antoine Veil had a discreet but important role in the life of his wife, with whom he formed a couple "more than accomplice, fusionnel", according to their eldest son.

(With AFP)