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Louise Weiss: lifelong champion of European values and women's rights

Europe will regain its former stature only through reigniting the beacons of conscience, life and law.

Louise Weiss

Life and times

After the war, Weiss travelled extensively around the globe, and wrote many articles for prominent French magazines and newspapers on the leading role that the West, especially Europe, could play in promoting democratic values worldwide.

In 1971, she established the Louise Weiss Foundation, which awards an annual prize to the person or institution that contributes most to advancing the ‘science of peace’.

A vision for Europe

Weiss successfully ran for election to the European Parliament in 1979. In her inaugural speech to Parliament, she called on all Europeans to unite on the basis of common culture and not merely shared economic interests.

Louise Weiss giving a speech at the European Parliament.

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Publications

More about Louise Weiss’s life, work and contribution to the European project