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De Gaulle niece tipped for burial in male-dominated Panthéon

Number of women buried at France’s famed memorial set to double as President Hollande prepares announcement on honouring France's greats.

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The number of women honoured with burial at France’s Panthéon is set to double, with two female French Resistance heroes tipped to be interred at the Paris monument, including the niece of former president and World War II hero Charles de Gaulle, reports FRANCE 24.

French President François Hollande is expected to announce Friday that the remains of Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz will be moved to the prestigious mausoleum, where famous French figures such as Voltaire, Rousseau and Victor Hugo are also buried, according to reports in French media and confirmed by a government source.

De Gaulle-Anthonioz joined the French Resistance shortly after Nazi occupation in 1940. She was arrested in 1943 and spent the rest of the war in a German concentration camp.

Hollande is also set to announce that the ashes of Germaine Tillion, another female resistance leader, will be interred at the Panthéon.

Read more of this report from FRANCE 24.