Margot Friedländer, Beloved Holocaust Survivor and Moral Voice of a Century, Dies at 103 in Berlin

By: Fern Sidman

Margot Friedländer, one of the world’s oldest and most revered Holocaust survivors, passed away in her native Berlin at the age of 103, according to an announcement released Friday by her foundation. Her death marks the end of an era—closing the chapter on a life defined by unimaginable loss, extraordinary resilience, and an unwavering commitment to remembrance and reconciliation.

As reported by The Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) on Sunday, Friedländer was not only a survivor of Nazi Germany’s genocidal campaign against the Jewish people but a moral giant whose testimony over the past eight decades profoundly shaped Germany’s post-war dialogue on guilt, memory, and the responsibility of humanity.

“Germany has lost one of the most important voices in its contemporary history,” read a statement from the Margot Friedländer Foundation, which has carried forward her mission of education and remembrance. That sentiment was echoed by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who expressed sorrow at her passing: “She gave our country the gift of reconciliation, despite everything that the Germans did to her as a young woman. We cannot be grateful enough.”

Born Margot Bendheim in Berlin in 1921, Friedländer came of age during the rise of the Nazi regime. According to her biography on the Jewish Museum Berlin website, she trained as a tailor after completing school. Her family made desperate attempts to emigrate to the United States before the outbreak of war—efforts that ultimately proved unsuccessful.

Tragedy struck in 1943 when her brother Ralph was arrested by the Gestapo, and her mother Auguste was deported to Auschwitz, where both were murdered. In a final, haunting message left behind, her mother urged Margot: “Try to make your life.”

As JNS has chronicled, Margot went into hiding but was later captured and deported to Theresienstadt, a Nazi transit camp in German-occupied Czechoslovakia. She was the only member of her immediate family to survive the Holocaust.

After the war, Friedländer relocated to New York City in 1946 with her husband Adolph Friedländer, whom she met at the camp. For more than six decades, she lived quietly in the United States, before returning to Berlin in 2010, four years after her husband’s passing. Her decision to return to Germany was deeply symbolic—a gesture not of forgetting, but of reconciling with the past to educate future generations.

Friedländer spent her later years speaking in schools, museums, and civic institutions, offering personal testimony that carried the weight of both history and healing. The JNS report noted that she delivered hundreds of talks to German youth, urging them to confront the past with honesty and moral clarity.

“Be human! That is what I ask you to do: be human!” she told attendees at a ceremony in Berlin just two days before her death, marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, according to AFP. Her mantra—simple, profound, and universal—embodied the essence of her message.

In 2021, Friedländer was honored with a lifetime achievement award by the German president upon her 100th birthday. “We cannot change what happened, but it must never be allowed to happen again,” she said during the ceremony in Berlin, in remarks covered by JNS.

Her life and message reached a new generation in June 2024, when she appeared on the cover of Vogue Germany’s July-August issue. “Respect for life and the responsibility of being human are the core messages of Margot Friedländer,” the magazine wrote. “She, who as a Holocaust survivor would have every reason to hate, stands up for love.”

Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, paid tribute to Friedländer’s enduring influence in a statement highlighted by JNS. “Until her final days, she stood as a symbol of resilience and humanity. Her words reached hearts. Her presence changed lives. This is a profound loss for the Jewish people, for Germany, and for all those who believe in memory and moral responsibility.”

Her ability to rise above the horrors she endured to become a symbol of reconciliation and moral courage has made her story indispensable to Holocaust education worldwide. As JNS emphasized in its coverage, Friedländer represented a living bridge between the darkest chapter in human history and the urgent need to safeguard its lessons for the future.

Margot Friedländer’s passing is not just the loss of a remarkable woman—it is a stark reminder that the era of firsthand Holocaust testimony is coming to an end. Yet her legacy lives on through her writings, her foundation, and the countless lives she touched through her message of compassion, memory, and moral responsibility.