A woman on the right side of history

The name Ruth Bader Ginsburg is synonymous with justice. But what about the name Simone Veil? Arguably, she is Europe’s answer to Ginsburg, yet few people outside of France know her story. Until now.

Simone Veil, A Woman of the Century opened the Jewish International Film Festival this year. And it’s safe to say that pretty much everyone who saw it that evening and has seen it since will say that you need to see it too.

Veil was born in Nice and while her family classified themselves as atheists, the Nazis did not. The family, at risk of deportation, split up, living with friends under false identities. But eventually, the Gestapo caught up with them. Veil, her mother and her eldest sister were rounded up and arrested, and sent to Drancy, Auschwitz and finally to Bergen-Belsen.

While the film shows Veil’s experience during the Holocaust, what’s most important about the story is everything Veil did after.

Determined to continue her education, Veil studied law, becoming a magistrate in 1956. One of the first areas she set her sights on was the prison system. And that was just the beginning.

As Minister of Health, Veil facilitated access to contraception and legalised abortion in France, the latter being her hardest political fight and for which she is best known.

It is also a large focus of the film, which showcases the personal attacks Veil and her family fielded during the debate period. She fought to protect rights of immigrants, AIDs victims and prostitutes, and to prevent the torture of French forces in Algeria during the country’s war of independence.

Veil was also elected as the first President of the European Parliament in the first European parliamentary election.

Throughout her life, Veil continued to fight racism, antisemitism and remained committed to teaching others about the Holocaust.

Director Olivier Dahan said that while his family avoided being sent to concentration camps during World War II, his family history inspired the making of the film.

“I grew up with that history,” he told Variety. “My grandmother always told me that she never met any Nazis, she was just escaping from the French people at the time. The wounds left from that time still exist in France. I wanted to look at these issues through the character of Simone Veil … I wanted to show Simone Veil as an example of someone who can fight for what they believe in, without making any compromises.”

The film beautifully weaves between Veil’s childhood, her marriage with her husband Antoine who was forever by her side and her biggest supporter, and her experience in concentration camps and how that shaped her thought processes while in parliament.

At the same time though, it shows Veil as a mother, a grandmother, a daughter and a sister. It shows her as a human being who just wanted to be on the right side of history, after experiencing the wrong one.

Simone Veil, A Women of the Century is showing as part of JIFF. Buy tickets.