Danielle Mitterrand
Danielle Mitterrand | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Spouse of the President of France | |
In role 21 May 1981 – 17 May 1995 | |
President | François Mitterrand |
Preceded by | Anne-Aymone Giscard d'Estaing |
Succeeded by | Bernadette Chirac |
Personal details | |
Born | Danielle Émilienne Isabelle Gouze 29 October 1924 Verdun, Meuse |
Died | 22 November 2011 Paris, Île-de-France | (aged 87)
Resting place | Cimetiere des Grands-Maisons Jarnac, France |
Spouse | |
Children | 3, including Jean-Christophe Mitterrand |
Danielle Émilienne Isabelle Mitterrand (née Gouze; 29 October 1924 – 22 November 2011) was the wife of French President François Mitterrand, and president of the foundation France Libertés Fondation Danielle Mitterrand.[1]
Background
When she was seventeen years old, her family (her parents were teachers) aided the French Resistance and helped lodge men of the Maquis (French Resistance), and she became a liaison officer in the Resistance. She met François Mitterrand there, and married him three months after the Liberation, on 28 October 1944.[1]
She created the France-Libertés Foundation in 1986, when she was First Lady, with the fusion of three smaller associations which had been established in 1981.[1] In 1996 Mitterrand was one of the winners of the North–South Prize.[2]
Mitterrand had three sons: Pascal (who died in childhood), Jean-Christophe and Gilbert Mitterrand.[1]
Opinions
Mitterrand was a longtime supporter of Cuba and its Marxist–Leninist government.[3] However, during Fidel Castro's 1995 visit to France, she also helped secure the release of imprisoned Cuban dissident Yndamiro Restano Díaz, who was reportedly freed at her request.[4][5] She was also a supporter of the ANC and the anti apartheid movement in South Africa.[6]
She also supported the Sandinistas when her husband gave them military aid in their war against US-backed forces in Nicaragua.[7] She was very critical of Turkey, opposing its accession to the European Union and supportive of the Kurdistan independence movement.[8] She voiced her views in favour of Sahrawi separatists,[9] Mexican insurgent Subcomandante Marcos,[10] and the Tibetan people, among others.
As First Lady, she spoke out against human rights violations, including in countries with which the French government was seeking to maintain good relations; she earned the ire both of the Chinese government and of King Hassan II of Morocco, in particular. Her France-Libertés Foundation provided financial support to local human rights initiatives abroad, and also financed access to medicine and education in poor countries.[1]
She supported a "no" vote in the 2005 French referendum on the European Constitution: "I denounce the power of the economy over people, a system that turns individuals into elements in an economic equation, does not respect the poor and excludes everyone that does not live up to the principle of profitability".[11]
Works
- These men are first our brothers (Ces hommes sont avant tout nos frères), Ramsay, 1996, on the Indians of Chiapas
- Torture in Tunisia: Committee for freedom and human rights in Tunisia (La torture en Tunisie : Comité pour le respect des libertés et des droits de l’homme en Tunisie), Le temps des cerises, 2000
Honours
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The French International School MLF Danielle Mitterrand in Iraqi Kurdistan is named after her.[12]
Foreign honours
Netherlands : Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown (1991)[13]
Sweden : Commander Grand Cross of the Order of the Polar Star (11 May 1984)[14]
References
- ^ a b c d e "Danielle Mitterrand, les combats d'une militante", Le Monde, 22 November 2011
- ^ "The North South Prize of Lisbon". North-South Centre. Council of Europe. Archived from the original on 2008-02-15. Retrieved 2008-01-21.
- ^ https://archive.today/20130210023841/http://www.trabajadores.cu/news/ingles/danielle-mitterrand-in-cuba. Archived from the original on February 10, 2013. Retrieved December 9, 2007.
{{cite web}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help) - ^ "World News Briefs;Havana Releases A Second Dissident". The New York Times. 2 June 1995. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
- ^ Roberto Fabricio (15 October 1995). "Switch Hitting". South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
- ^ MANDELA, Nelson, "The Long Walk To Freedom", 1994, page 523.
- ^ http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n1_v40/ai_6284469/.
{{cite news}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help) [dead link] - ^ "Cyprus News Agency: News in English (AM), 99-03-10". Hri.org. 1999-03-10. Archived from the original on 2011-06-05. Retrieved 2011-11-22.
- ^ "afrol News - Systematic maltreatments revealed in Saharawi camps". Afrol.com. Retrieved 2011-11-22.
- ^ Smith, David (11 March 2001). "Mexico waits for the masked crusader". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 1 May 2010.
- ^ Francois Mitterrand's Widow Says, "I Will Vote No" Spiegel-Interview with Danielle Mitterrand, 05/23/2005
- ^ "Consul Generals discuss developments and initiatives in Kurdistan" (Archive). Kurdistan Regional Government Department of Foreign Relations. Thursday March 15, 2012. Retrieved on April 27, 2015.
- ^ Volks krant, State visit of Netherlands in France (Mitterrand), 1991, Group Photo Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Photo Archived 2016-03-08 at the Wayback Machine of the state in Sweden, Danielle Mitterrand : Polar Star
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- French activists
- French women activists
- François Mitterrand
- Spouses of French presidents
- 1924 births
- 2011 deaths
- Female resistance members of World War II
- French Resistance members
- International opponents of apartheid in South Africa
- People from Verdun
- Tibet freedom activists
- Grand Crosses of the Order of the Crown (Netherlands)
- Commanders Grand Cross of the Order of the Polar Star
- 20th-century French politicians
- 21st-century French politicians
- French women in World War II