Biography

• Born on 13th Juli 1927 in Nice.
• In March 1944 she was deported to Auschwitz and Bergen–Belsen, where she lost her parents and her brother. After the War she studied Law and was conferred a degree at the Paris Institute of Political Studies.
• She began her career in 1957 in the Ministry of Justice (until 1968); in 1969 she became Advisor to the Cabinet of Prime Minister Pleven. In 1970 she took on the position of Secretary General of the Supreme Board of Magistrates, the highest administrative authority of French judges. From 1974 to 1979 she held various ministerial positions (1974 to 1978 Health Minister, from 1977 simultaneously Minister for Social Affairs; 1978 bis 1979 Minister for Health and Family Affairs).
• From 1979 to 1993 she was a Member of the European Parliament; in 1979 she was for two and a half years the first woman to become President of the European Parliament and the first elected Parliament. She campaigned emphatically for a strengthening of the role and the competences of the European Parliament. In 1993 she returned to the French Government as Minister for Social Affairs, Health (until 1995).
• Died on 30th June 2017.