Holocaust survivor Margot Friedländer (103) died

Holocaust survivor Margot Friedländer (103) 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 should never happen again,” was her message.

Friedländer was born in Berlin in a Jewish family. Her father, mother and brother were murdered in Auschwitz in the Second World War. Margot Friedländer was initially able to go into hiding, but was arrested in 1944.

She was brought to the Theresienstadt transit camp in the Czech Republic, where she was imprisoned until the end of the war. After the war it turned out that all her immediate family members had died and moved to the United States.

Friedländer’s story was known for the American documentary Don’t call it homweh and through her autobiography. When she was 88, she moved back to Germany, where she started giving lectures in schools. “On behalf of the victims who can no longer speak for themselves,” she said.

She received many prizes and recognition for her efforts, including the Walther Rathenau prize for “Extraordinary International Political Life Work”. Friedländer was also appointed honorary citizen of Berlin in 2018 and was on the cover of Vogue Germany last year.

In 2023 she founded the Margot Friedländer Stichting, which awardes a prize to people who are committed to fighting freedom and anti -Semitism. “We should never forget, but only remembering is not enough. That’s why I am committed to tolerance and humanity with my foundation,” said Friedländer this year.