- French politician and major figure of feminism.
- French Minister of Health from 1974-79, where she voted the law with her name (Loi Veil) that decriminalized abortion in France.
- She was president of the first elected European parliament (1979-82). She later was a member of France's Conseil constitutionnel (1998-2007).
- She was a member of the Académie Française, having inscribed on her official ceremonial sword the numbers 78651, the number given to her when she was deported to the Nazi death camp at Birkenau. She never removed the tattoo of that number on her left arm.
- Arrived at Birkenau in 1944 with Marceline Loridan Ivens, who gave a moving testimony at Veil's burial about that time and their continuing friendship since then.
- Three sons with husband Antoine Veil: Jean (b. 1947), Claude-Nicolas (1948-2002), and Pierre-François (b. 16 March 1954).
- French Minister of Health and Social Affairs from 1993-95.
- First woman elected President of the European Parliament from 1979-82.
- She was awarded an honorary Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1998 Queen's Honours List for her services to British-French relations.
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