The War Heritage Institute honours Mrs Simone Veil, who passed away on June 30, 2017. As an Auschwitz survivor and a human rights defender she led a very special life. As a young girl she was interned at Auschwitz in March 1944. One year later, in May 1945, she returned to France. She worked hard to get ahead in life. As a civil servant at the Ministry of Justice, as Minister of Health and as the first president of the European parliament she devoted quite some energy to the defence of human rights. She undoubtedly belonged to the survivors in whom the Shoah catastrophe generated an incredible amount of energy, as famous Nazi hunter Serge Klarsfeld pointed out.