Madeleine Braun née Weill (25 June 1907 – 22 January 1980) was a French publisher and politician. She was a Député of the

Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plat ...

for the Communist Party and, in 1946, she became the first woman vice-president of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

Family

She was the daughter of Albert Weill, a company director, and Gabrielle Hirsch, a painter. She married Jean Braun, a businessman, on 8 July 1930.

Biography

Madeleine Braun, born Madeleine Weill, studied at the Villiers School and the Faculty of Law in Paris. She was involved in the Amsterdam-Pleyel Movement, of which she was a member of the executive committee, and the International Coordination and Information Committee for Assistance to Republican Spain, of which she was general secretary between 1936 and 1937. Engaged in the Resistance, she was responsible for developing in the South zone of the National Front. She was an editor of the ''Patriot'', which she later became director of after the liberation of

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

. Being a member of the Communist Party and on the executive committee of the National Front, she managed to escape prosecution in 1942. On 8 November 1944, she was delegated to the

Provisional Consultative Assembly The Provisional Consultative Assembly (, ) was a governmental organ of Free France that operated under the aegis of the French Committee of National Liberation (CFLN) and that represented the resistance movements, political parties, and ter ...

. After 1946, she became a member of the assemblies of the Fourth Republic. She was elected vice-president of the National Assembly on 14 June 1946; a role in which she was to chair the sessions and debates along with the other Vice-Presidents. She was the first woman in the history of the Republic to receive this post. She was re-elected four times. From the Assembly's gallery, she denounced France's famous "Atlanticist" foreign policy, which she believed to be "American imperialism". She did not run for office again in 1951. From 1961, she directed ''Éditeurs français réunis'' (EFR) along with

Louis Aragon Louis Aragon (; 3 October 1897 – 24 December 1982) was a French poet who was one of the leading voices of the Surrealism, surrealist movement in France. He co-founded with André Breton and Philippe Soupault the surrealist review ''Littératur ...

."Madeleine Braun", by Jean Maitron and Claude Pennetier, in ''Le Maitron online'' She also contributed to

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, a French literary magazine.

Distinctions

Resistance Medal The Resistance Medal (, ) was a decoration bestowed by the French Committee of National Liberation, based in the United Kingdom, during World War II. It was established by a decree of General Charles de Gaulle on 9 February 1943 "to recognize the ...

* Knight of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 Croix (French for "cross") may refer to: Belgium * Croix-lez-Rouveroy, a village in municipality of Estinnes in the province of Hainaut France * Croix, Nord, in the Nord department * Croix, Territoire de Belfort, in the Territoire de Belfort depa ...

with Palm.

Tributes

* A lane in the

10th arrondissement of Paris The 10th arrondissement of Paris (''Xe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, the arrondissement is referred to as ''le dixième'' (; "the tenth", formally ''l ...

is named ''Place Madeleine-Braun''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Braun, Madeleine 1907 births 1980 deaths Politicians from Paris Jewish French politicians French Communist Party politicians Members of the Provisional Consultative Assembly Members of the Constituent Assembly of France (1945) Members of the Constituent Assembly of France (1946) Deputies of the 1st National Assembly of the French Fourth Republic Members of Parliament for Seine 20th-century French women politicians Communist members of the French Resistance Knights of the Legion of Honour Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (France) Recipients of the Resistance Medal