Historian Hélène Carrère d’Encausse, the first female head of the French Academy and a major expert on Russia, died on Saturday in Paris at the age of 94. This was reported by her children, including the famous writer Emmanuel Carrer: “She died peacefully surrounded by her family,” they said.
Permanent secretary of the Académie française since 1999, she wanted to be called “eternal Madame secretary” without feminizing her position. Because, in his opinion, “for three and a half centuries there has been only one Secrétaire perpétuel. It is this idea of continuity that must prevail. It’s an ongoing lineage.”
She was born in Paris on July 6, 1929. She was the daughter of an Italian and Georgian philosopher Georges Zurabishvili (later killed) who emigrated to France.
She received French citizenship in 1950, and two years later she married Louis Carrère, known as Carrère d’Encausse, an insurer, with whom she had three children: the writer Emmanuel (author of “Limonov” and “Yoga”), Nathalie, lawyer and Marina, doctor and media consultant.
A specialist in Russia, she was the author of several biographies, including those of Lenin, Stalin and Catherine II.
In 1978, he made a sensational stunt to the publishing house “L’Empire éclaté”, in which he, before many others, predicted the collapse of the USSR in the face of the problem of minorities.
A member of the Académie française since 1990, Hélène Carrère d’Encos has also made a political career. In June 1994, she was elected to the European Parliament.