Holocaust Survivor Margot Friedlander A’H, Passes Away at 103

Margot Friedlander a”h, a Holocaust survivor who was active in educating Germans on the horrors of the Nazi regime, passed away on Friday at the age of 103.

She was arrested in April 1944 and deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto, where she managed to survive. Following World War II, she relocated to the U.S. with her husband.

In 2010, she moved back to Berlin and began educating German youth about her Holocaust experiences and remarkable survival. She was set to be awarded the Grand Cross, Germany’s Order of Honor, on the day she passed away.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz honored her memory, saying: “Margot Friedlander was one of the strongest voices of our time: for peaceful coexistence, against anti-Semitism and forgetting. She told us her story. It is our mission and duty to carry it forward. We mourn with her family and friends.”

President Frank-Walter Steinmeier remarked: “Margot Friedlander gave our country reconciliation despite everything the Germans did to it.”

Steffen Seibert, Germany’s ambassador to Israel, expressed: “Holocaust survivor Margot Friedlander has died at the age of 103. To meet her was to be fascinated by her. She suffered so much at the hands of the Germans, and yet she returned to live in Berlin, to share her story, to warn us to be human. We owe her gratitude and we will never forget.”

Foreign Minister Wadepool shared: “‘Margot Friedlander will be greatly missed. Right up until the very end, she gave the impression that she was immortal. This is her legacy. It is more relevant than ever.”

Last Chanukkah, she helped light the large menorah at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate. During her speech, she said: “It is moving to stand here, in the place where the Nazis declared extermination.” She concluded with, “Am Yisrael Chai.”