Holocaust survivor Margot Friedländer (103) has died
Holocaust survivor Margot Friedländer (103) has died in Germany. Her foundation announced this. Until old age, she told young people about what had happened to her and her family during the Second World War. "We can't change it, but it must never happen again," was her message.
Friedländer was born in Berlin to a Jewish family. Her father, mother and brother were murdered in Auschwitz during World War II. Margot Friedländer was initially able to go into hiding, but was arrested in 1944.
She was taken to the Theresienstadt transit camp in the Czech Republic, where she remained until the end of the war. After the war, all of her immediate family members were killed, and she moved to the United States.
Remembering alone is not enough. That is why I am committed to tolerance and humanity.
Margot Friedlander Friedländer's story became known through the American documentary Don't Call It Heimweh and through her autobiography . When she was 88, she moved back to Germany, where she started giving lectures at schools. "On behalf of the victims who can no longer speak for themselves," she said about it.
For her efforts, she has received many awards and recognition, including the Walther Rathenau Prize for "extraordinary international political life's work". Friedländer was also named an honorary citizen of Berlin in 2018 and was on the cover of Vogue Germany last year.
In 2023, she founded the Margot Friedländer Foundation, which awards prizes to people who stand up for freedom and combat anti-Semitism. "We must never forget, but remembering alone is not enough. That is why I am committed to tolerance and humanity with my foundation," Friedländer said this year.
