Holocaust Survivor and Activist Margot Friedländer Dies in Berlin at 103

Margot Friedländer, a Holocaust survivor and advocate for remembrance, died in Berlin on May 9, 2025, at 103. Born in 1921, she survived the Nazi regime by hiding before being deported to Theresienstadt. Post-war, she emigrated to the U.S., returning to Berlin in 2010 to educate on the Holocaust. Friedländer founded a foundation to combat antisemitism and received Germany's Order of Merit. Her death was announced by her foundation, marking the end of a life dedicated to resilience and education.

Early Life in Berlin

Margot Friedländer was born Anni Margot Bendheim on November 5, 1921, in Berlin to a Jewish family of button makers. Her father, Artur Bendheim, a decorated World War I veteran, initially believed that the Nazi regime would not target assimilated German Jews. However, the family’s attempts to emigrate after the November pogroms of 1938 failed. Her parents eventually separated, and her father fled to Belgium and then France, only to be deported to Auschwitz in 1942, where he was murdered.

In January 1943, Friedländer’s younger brother Ralph was arrested by the Gestapo. Her mother, Auguste, turned herself in to join him. Both were deported to Auschwitz and killed. Margot, then 21, went into hiding, surviving for 15 months in 16 different locations across Berlin, aided by non-Jewish Germans who risked their lives to protect her.

Arrest and Deportation to Theresienstadt

In the spring of 1944, Friedländer was discovered by a patrol of so-called “graspers”—Jews forced by the Nazis to identify and capture other Jews. She was arrested and deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp in what is now the Czech Republic. There, she reconnected with Adolf Friedländer, an acquaintance from her earlier work as a costume dressmaker with the Jewish Cultural League in Berlin.

The two survived the final months of the war together and were married in Theresienstadt in June 1945, just before the last rabbi left the camp. Friedländer later described the liberation of the camp as a moment of mixed emotions—relief tempered by the uncertainty of what lay ahead and the knowledge of the atrocities committed.

Emigration to the United States

In 1946, Margot and Adolf Friedländer emigrated to New York City, where they settled in Queens. They became U.S. citizens and lived a quiet life. Margot worked as a tailor and later ran a travel agency. Adolf never returned to Germany, and after his death in 1997, Margot began to reflect more deeply on her past.

Encouraged by a filmmaker who was working on a documentary about her life, Friedländer began writing her memoir. In 2008, she published her autobiography, titled “Versuche, dein Leben zu machen” (“Try to Make Your Life”), a phrase her mother had passed on to her through a stranger after her arrest. The book became a cornerstone of her public message and personal mission.

Return to Germany and Public Advocacy

In 2010, at the age of 88, Friedländer returned permanently to Berlin. Her decision was driven by a desire to speak for those who could not and to honor the memory of her family and the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust. “Germans were people, too,” she said in a 2023 interview. “They hid me, shared their bed and food with me. There were people who did not look away.”

Friedländer became a tireless advocate for Holocaust education, speaking at schools, universities, and public events across Germany. She emphasized empathy and humanity, often telling students not just what happened, but what it would mean to experience such dehumanization. Her mantra, “Be human,” became a guiding principle of her outreach.

In 2023, she established the Margot Friedländer Foundation, which awards an annual €25,000 prize to initiatives combating antisemitism and promoting democracy. She was honored with numerous awards, including Germany’s highest civilian honor, the Order of Merit. A statue of her was erected at Berlin’s City Hall.

Final Years and Legacy

Friedländer remained active until the very end of her life. Just two days before her death, she participated in Berlin’s commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and the fall of the Nazi regime. There, she read from her memoir, continuing her lifelong mission of remembrance.

Her death was announced by the Margot Friedländer Foundation. While the cause of death was not immediately disclosed, her passing marks the end of a life that bore witness to the darkest chapter of German history and transformed it into a message of resilience, dignity, and hope.

Margot Friedländer’s story is not only one of survival but of moral courage. She lived through the collapse of civilization and chose to return to the place of her trauma to educate and inspire. Her voice, once silenced by persecution, became one of the most powerful in Germany’s post-war reckoning with its past.