Annette Lantos (née Tilleman), born July 27, 1931, in Budapest, Hungary, is a Holocaust survivor and prominent human rights advocate. As a young girl during World War II, she and her identical twin sister, also named Annette, were hidden by a Christian family to escape Nazi persecution, enduring separation from their parents who were sent to concentration camps. After the war, the sisters reunited with their surviving mother and studied pharmacy at the University of Budapest before fleeing communist Hungary. In Switzerland, Annette met Tom Lantos, another Hungarian Jewish survivor, and they married in 1950. The couple immigrated to the United States in 1951, where they raised six children in the San Francisco Bay Area while Tom pursued an academic career and later entered politics.

Annette supported her husband's groundbreaking tenure as a U.S. Congressman from 1981 to 2008, becoming the only Holocaust survivor elected to Congress. She was actively involved in his human rights initiatives, including advocacy for Soviet Jewry, sanctions against apartheid South Africa, and efforts to combat genocide in Darfur. Following Tom's death from cancer in 2008, Annette assumed the presidency of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice, which they co-founded in 2004. Under her leadership, the foundation has continued to promote democratic values, support dissidents worldwide, and address modern slavery and religious persecution. Annette has received numerous honors, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2017, recognizing her lifelong commitment to justice and tolerance.

Throughout her life, Annette Lantos has remained a vocal advocate for human rights, drawing from her personal experiences of survival and loss. She has lectured extensively, co-authored books with her husband, and worked with international organizations to amplify marginalized voices. Residing in California, she continues to influence policy and philanthropy, embodying resilience and moral leadership in the face of global challenges.