Everything about Louise Weiss totally explained
Louise Weiss (born in
1893 in
Arras,
France; died
May 26,
1983 in
Paris) was a
French author, journalist, feminist and
European politician. A constantly engaged personality, she belonged to the pioneering Europeans.
Life
Louise Weiss came from a cosmopolitan family of
Alsace. The ancestors of her Jewish mother, Jeanne Laval, came from
Frankfurt,
Mannheim,
Munich,
Vienna and
Prague. Her father, Paul Louis Weiss, a mining engineer, was a typical Alsatian
Protestant. She grew up in Paris with five siblings, was trained as a teacher against the will of her family, was a teacher at a secondary school for arts and awarded a diploma from
Oxford University. From
1914 to
1918, she worked as a war nurse and founded a hospital in the
Côtes-du-Nord. From
1918 to
1934, she was the publisher of the magazine,
L'Europe nouvelle. From
1935 to the beginning of
World War II, she committed herself to
women's suffrage. In 1936, she stood for French parliamentary elections, running in the Fifth arrondissement of Paris. During the War, she was active in the
French Resistance. She was a member of the
Patriam Recuperare network, and she was
chief editor of the secret magazine, "Nouvelle République" from
1942 until
1944. In
1945, she founded the Institute for
Polemology (research on war and conflict) together with
Gaston Bouthoul in
London. She travelled around the
Middle East,
Japan,
China,
Vietnam,
Africa,
Kenya,
Madagascar,
Alaska,
India, etc., made documentary films and wrote accounts of her travels. In 1975, she unsuccessfully tried twice to be admitted to the
Académie Française. In
1979, she became a
Member of the European Parliament for the Gaullist Party (now
Union for a Popular Movement).
The European Woman
During
World War I, she published her first press reports under a
pseudonym. In Paris, she came in contact with her first great loves, representatives of countries striving for independence, such as
Eduard Beneš,
Thomáš Masaryk and
Milan Štefánik. Between
1919 and
1939, she often travelled to
Czechoslovakia. In
1918, she founded the weekly newspaper, "Europe nouvelle" (New Europe), which she published until
1934.
Thomas Mann,
Gustav Stresemann,
Rudolf Breitscheid and
Aristide Briand were among her co-authors on the paper. Louise Weiss described those who paved the way for the closening of the German-French relationship between the World Wars as "peace pilgrims", and they called their important co-worker "my good Louise". Europe dreamed of unification and in
1930, she founded the "Ecole de la Paix" (School of Peace), a private institute for international relations. With the takeover by the
National Socialists in
Germany, the possibility of a unification was over.
In
1979, Louise Weiss stood as a candidate of the
Gaullist Party in the
first European election in 1979. On
17 July 1979 she was elected as a French
Member of the European Parliament (MEP), sitting with the
European People's Party. At the time of the first election, at 86 of age, she was the oldest member in Parliament and thus the EP's first
'oldest member'. She remained MEP and oldest member until her death on
26 May 1983, at age 90.
The Women's Rights Activist
In
1934, she founded the association,
La femme nouvelle (The New Woman) with
Cécile Brunsvicg, and she strove for a stronger role of women in public life. She participated in campaigns for the
right of women to vote in France, organised suffragette commands, demonstrated and had herself chained to a street light in Paris with other women. In
1935, she unsuccessfully sued against the "inability of women to vote" before the French
Conseil d'État.
Works
Political Works
- La République Tchécoslovaque, 1919
- Milan Stefanik, Prague 1920
Biographies
- Souvenirs d'une enfance républicaine, Paris, 1937
- Ce que femme veut, Paris, 1946
- Mémoires d'une Européenne, Paris 1968-1976
Novels
- Délivrance, Paris 1936
- La Marseillaise, Vol. I and II Paris, 1945; Vol. III Paris 1947
- Sabine Legrand, Paris 1951
- Dernières Voluptés, Paris, 1979
Theatrical Works
- Arthur ou les joies du suicide
- Sigmaringen ou les potentats du néant
- Le récipiendaire
- La patronne
- Adaptation des Dernières Voluptés
Travel Books
- L'or, le camion et la croix, Paris, 1949
- Le voyage enchanté, Paris, 1960
- Le Cachemire, Les Albums des Guides Bleus, Paris, 1955
Sociological Essay
- Lettre à un embryon, Paris 1973
Art, Archaeology and Folklore
- Contes et légendes du Grand-Nord, Paris, 1957
Honours
The main building of the European Parliament in Strasbourg bears her name.
A street in the 12e arrondissement in Paris is named for her.
A primary school built by Fritz Beblo in Strasbourg-Neudorf now bears her name.
Honorary member of the Upper University Council in Strasbourg.
Winner of the Robert Schuman Prize
Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor
Foundation
Each year, the Louise Weiss Foundation awards a prize to the author or the institution which has contributed the most to the advancement of the science of peace, the improvement of human relations and efforts of benefit to Europe.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Louise Weiss'.
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