102: Margot Friedländer

Margot Friedländer turns 102 years old today!

Margot Friedländer was born Anni Margot Bendheim on November 5, 1921 in Berlin, Germany.

She was 17 years old when the Germans destroyed Jewish Synagogues, Businesses and Homes and arrested 30,000 Jewish Men during Kristallnacht on November 8, 1938.

Afterwards her Mother wanted to leave Germany, but her Father (a World War 1 Veteran) won’t.

Her Parents then divorced. Her Mother tried to get Visas to the United States, Brazil and China, but they all failed.

In 1942, her Father was deported to a Death Camp and murdered.

On January 30, 1943 Margot was returning home when she learned that her 17 year old Brother, Ralph, had been arrested by the Gestapo.

Her Mother left her purse with an Address Book and an Amber Necklace and the words "Try to make your life” with Neighbors before turning herself into the Gestapo to be with her Son.

They were both sent to the Auschwitz Death Camp in German-Occupied Poland and murdered.

From then on, Margot lived in Hiding throughout Berlin until she was caught by Jews working for the Gestapo (Greifer or Grabbers) and sent to the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp in German-Occupied Czechoslovakia.

There she met Adolf Friedländer, whom she had known back in Berlin.

On May 8, 1945 the Soviets liberated Theresienstadt.

Margot and Adolf got married and moved to the United States in 1946 and became American Citizens.

She worked as a Travel Agent and a Seamstress in New York City.

Adolf Friedländer died in 1997.

After his death Margot took a Memori Class at the YMCA and started sharing her experiences during the Holocaust.

In 2004, a Documentary about her life, called “Don't Call It Heimweh” was made.

In 2008 her Memoir was published in German and in English in 2014 titled “Try To Make Your Life.”

In 2010 she returned to Berlin permanently and made frequent talks about the War and the Holocaust at German Schools.

She was given her German Citizenship back (which the Nazis had taken from her in 1935.)

In 2011, she was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon by Germany.

In 2018 she became an Honorary Citizen of Berlin.

On January 23, 2023, the 101-year-old Friedländer was awarded Germany’s Federal Cross of Merit First Class.

In 2023, she founded the Margot Friedländer Foundation to continue the work with contemporary witnesses and the awarding of the Margot Friedländer Prize.

In 2024, she was awarded the Berlin Bear.

German Vogue depicted her on the cover in its July/August 2024 issue.