Hélène Carrère d'Encausse

Hélène Zourabichvili was born in the 16th arrondissement of Paris to Georges Zourabichvili, a Georgian émigré, and his German-Russian wife.[1] In Georgia, her father had been a doctor of philosophy and economics[2] who spoke five languages.[3] The family had lost their possessions in the October revolution. In France, her father had to make money, first as a cab driver. The family spoke Russian at home, and she learned French at age four.[4]

The family survived the war in Bordeaux where her father worked as a translator for the Germans.[4] He disappeared in 1944 during the Liberation of France,[3] presumably murdered by members of the Resistance.[4][5]

After completing her secondary education at the 16th arrondissement's Lycée Molière,[6] she studied history at the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po), graduating in 1952.[5] She completed her Doctorat de troisième cycle in 1963[7] and, in 1976, earned a Doctorat ès lettres from Panthéon-Sorbonne University (Paris 1) with a dissertation supervised by Maxime Rodinson and Roger Portal.[1][4][8] She lectured in history at both Sciences Po and the Sorbonne.[1]

Carrère d'Encausse with Vladimir Putin in October 2000

Due to her interest in her family history,[4] the bulk of Carrère d'Encausse's work focused on Russia and the Soviet Union. She had over two dozen books published in French, many of which have been translated into English.[9] Her 1978 work L'Empire éclaté (English version, Decline of an Empire: The Soviet Socialist Republics in Revolt)[10] predicted that the Soviet Union was destined to break up along the lines of its 15 constituent republics, although she was incorrect in foreseeing that demographic pressures from the Muslim-majority republics of Central Asia would be the trigger.[11]

In commenting on current Russian affairs, Carrère d'Encausse warned against applying Western yardsticks to Russian democracy and said she regretted the excessive demonisation of the government of Vladimir Putin.[12] Up until the final days before Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine she refused to countenance such an eventuality, although her opinion of Putin changed after the start of hostilities.[13][14]

In 1992, Carrère d'Encausse was invited by Culture Minister Jack Lang to chair the committee he had founded to promote a "yes" vote in that year's referendum on the Maastricht Treaty,[15] a task that Lang said she performed with "fervour and enthusiasm".[16]

She was elected as a member of the European Parliament in 1994, representing Jacques Chirac's Gaullist-conservative party Rassemblement pour la République (RPR).[17] During her time in the parliament from 1994 to 1999, she sat first with the European Democratic Alliance and later with the Union for Europe group, and she served as one of the vice-chairs of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and as a member of the delegation for relations with Russia.[18]

In 2005, she controversially identified polygamy as one of the causes of France's 2005 civil unrest. During an interview given to the Russian television channel NTV, she claimed: "Why can't their parents buy an apartment? It's clear why. Many of these Africans, I tell you, are polygamous. In an apartment, there are three or four wives and 25 children."[19][20] She also said that political correctness on French television was "a nightmare" and was almost comparable to media censorship in Russia.[19]

Carrère d'Encausse was elected to seat 14 of the Académie Française on 13 December 1990,[1] then the third woman,[4] and was elected its Perpetual Secretary on 21 October 1999, making her the first woman to hold its top position.[1][4] Her academician's sword was made by the Franco-Georgian sculptor Goudji.[21][22]

As a member of the Academy, Carrère d'Encausse opposed both the feminisation of language, insisting that she be styled Madame le secrétaire perpétuel, and gender-inclusive language, describing the use of the interpunct to accommodate both genders (as in les auteur·rice·s) as "stupid" because of its impact on the musicality of a text.[23] Her 2020 ruling that Covid be considered a feminine noun was also fiercely criticised, including by fellow members of the Academy.[24]

Born stateless, Hélène Zourabichvili acquired French citizenship in 1950.[25] In 1952 she married Louis Édouard Carrère d'Encausse, with whom she had three children: Emmanuel (born 1957), an author, screenwriter and director; Nathalie (1959), a lawyer; and Marina (1961), a physician and broadcast journalist.[26][1][27] Her brother was the composer Nicolas Zourabichvili,[3] and she was a cousin of Salome Zourabichvili, the current President of Georgia.[28]

Carrère d'Encausse died in Paris on 5 August 2023, at age 94.[27] President Emmanuel Macron announced that he would lead a national homage in her honour at the Hôtel des Invalides before the end of the summer.[14][29]

Carrère d'Encausse's page on the website of the Académie Française provides the following list of her publications.[22]

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