2023-08-05 20:36:03
Update
August 05, 2023
22:36
Died at the age of 94, Hélène Carrère d’Encausse was the first woman to head the French Academy. She had predicted, before many others, the breakup of the USSR.
The historian Hélène Carrère d’Encausse, first woman at the head of the French Academy and great specialist of Russia, died on Saturday in Paris, her children announced to AFP. “She passed away peacefully surrounded by her family,” the family statement said. Permanent secretary of the French Academy since 1999, she was 94 years old.
She had indicated that it should be called “Madame Perpetual Secretary”, without feminizing the function. Because, according to her, “there has been only one perpetual Secretary for three and a half centuries. It is this idea of continuity that must prevail. It is a line that continues”.
Born in Paris on July 6, 1929, she was the daughter of an Italian woman and a Georgian philosopher who emigrated to France, Georges Zourabichvili (who would later be assassinated).
She acquired French nationality in 1950 and married, two years later, Louis Carrère, dit Carrère d’Encausse, an insurer with whom she had three children: the writer Emmanuel (author of “Limonov” or “Yoga”), Nathalie, lawyer, and Marina, doctor and media consultant.
A premonitory book
A specialist in Russia, she is the author of several biographies including those of Lenin, Stalin and Catherine II. In 1978, she made a sensational entry into publishing with “L’Empire exploded” where she predicted, before many others, the break-up of the USSR confronted with the problem of minorities.
Member of the French Academy since 1990, Hélène Carrère d’Encausse has also had a political career. She was notably elected to the European Parliament in June 1994.
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