Margot Friedländer
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Survival
Born in Berlin in 1921, Margot Friedländer survived war and persecution in Berlin’s underground and then in the Theresienstadt concentration camp. In 1946 she emigrated to New York. In 2003 she accepted the invitation of the Berlin Senate to visit her former home city. Thomas Halaczinsky’s documentary “Don’t Call it Heimweh” (USA 2004) documents Margot Friedländer’s visit to Berlin. Her autobiography “Try to Make Your Life” (BEA Press, Potomac USA, 2008) appeared in 2008.
Return to Berlin
After a number of subsequent visits to Berlin, Margot Friedländer decided to move back to the city permanently in 2010. She had her German citizenship restored. On November 9th, 2011, she was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit with Ribbon from President Christian Wulff in Bellevue Palace. Since her return Margot Friedländer has regularly visited schools and other institutions all over Germany to speak about her life and to help young people to develop their moral and civic courage.
In 2014, the Margot Friedländer Award was established to support young people in their efforts to remember the Holocaust and to work against current forms of racism and anti-Semitism.
Further selected background information about Margot Friedländer:
- Yad Vashem (2013): Deportation from Berlin to Theresienstadt in June 1944. Testimony of Margot Ann Friedlander.
- German („Students ask contemporary witnesses“): Schüler fragen Zeitzeugen (2013): 10 Fragen an Margot Friedländer
- German („Berlin Newspaper“): Berliner Zeitung (Mai 2017): Von Schulbesuchen zu einem eigenen Preis
- German („Jewish Museum Berlin“): Jüdisches Museum Berlin (April 2018): Versuche, dein Leben zu machen
- German (Radio Program): Deutschlandfunk Kultur (Mai 2018): „Meine Vergangenheit für Eure Zukunft“
- German: Phoenix (Februar 2021): „Jahrhundertzeugen:Margot Friedländer“
- German (Jewish Newspaper): Jüdische Allgemeine (September 2021): „Eine der beeindruckendsten Begegnungen überhaupt“.
Honours and awards
- Honorary citizen of Berlin (together with Inge Deutschkron) (2018)
- Recipient of the German Jewish History Award from the Obermayer Foundation (2018)
- Federal Cross of Merit (with Ribbon) of the Order of the Federal Republic of Germany (2011)
- Recipient of the Einhard Prize (2009)