"Margot Friedländer’s character and commitment are a gift to our society. She teaches us not only history, but also what it means to be human."
Joachim Gauck
fivekit_Christoph_Gräfenstein
The Story of Margot Friedländer
Born a Jewish German in Berlin in 1921, deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp in 1944, and liberated in May 1945, Margot Friedländer narrowly escaped death at the hands of the Nazis. She was the only member of her immediate family to survive the Holocaust. After more than six decades in exile in New York, she returned to her hometown Berlin at the age of 88 and dedicated herself to ensuring that what was done to millions of people of her generation would never happen again. Margot worked tirelessly for freedom, democracy and humanity. She passed away on May 9, 2025, at the age of 103.
5.11.1921
Anni Margot Bendheim is born to Arthur Bendheim (1892) and his wife Auguste, née Gross (1894), in her parents’ apartment on Lindenstrasse in Berlin.
Until the birth of her daughter, Margot’s mother, Auguste, ran a button shop on Neue Grünstrasse in Berlin-Mitte. Her husband, Arthur, expanded the business into a wholesaler for button-making machines and accessories.
7. 8.1925
Her brother Ralph is born.
On weekends, holidays and during summer vacation, Margot and Ralph spend a lot of time at the family estate owned by their uncles Paul and Richard on Lake Scharmützel. There, the extended family on both their mother’s and father’s sides gathers.
“When we moved to the
forest estate at the beginning of summer with a wagonload of suitcases and our maid, it felt to me as if we would never have to go back to the city.”
1931–1936
Margot goes to the Jewish junior high school on Grosse Hamburger Strasse. Margot’s favorite subjects are geography, handicrafts and sports. She is active in track and field at the Jewish sports club, Bar Kochba.
“I didn’t like school very much. […]
I wasn’t a particularly ambitious student.”
1936-1937
Margot develops an early interest in fashion and design. After school, she trains as a fashion and advertising illustrator at the Jewish art school, Feige und Strassburger, on Hausvogteiplatz.
The family moves into an 11-room apartment on Neue Friedrichstrasse in Berlin-Mitte.
April 1937
Begins an apprenticeship as a tailor in the salon of Rosa Lang-Nathanson and Heinz Nathanson, initially on Kalkreuthstrasse, later at Bamberger Strasse 28, in Berlin-Schöneberg.
1937
Parents divorce. Mother and children move into two rooms at the Mandowsky guesthouse on Ludwigkirchplatz in Berlin-Charlottenburg. Margot and Ralph rarely see their father.
1938
Auguste Bendheim attempts to emigrate to Brazil or Shanghai with her children, but fails
– partly because Arthur Bendheim does not grant the necessary exit permit for the children.
“‘What do you want in Shanghai?’ my father wrote. ‘You can starve to death in Berlin, too!’”
10.11.1938
On the way to her apprenticeship, Margot sees the destruction caused by Nazi pogroms against Jewish businesses. For the first time, she realizes how these politics could be an immediate threat to her and her family. Her employer and mentor, Heinz Nathanson, is forced to give up his business as a result of the pogroms. Margot loses her apprenticeship and goes on to sew costumes for the Jüdischer Kulturbund (Jewish Cultural Federation).
1939
Arthur Bendheim uses a business trip to flee to Belgium. He is later interned in France, then deported to Auschwitz on August 10, 1942, where he is murdered.
“We had to assemble and process metal parts for the arms industry. We didn’t know exactly what we were manufacturing. It was hard and monotonous work. We Jewish forced laborers were only assigned the night shifts.”
1941
After the dissolution of the Jüdischer Kulturbund, Margot is forced to perform hard labor at the Deuta Works in Berlin-Kreuzberg, a metalworking factory producing armaments. Margot works the night shift. In the same year, the family is forced to move into a “Jewish apartment” at Skalitzerstrasse 32 in Berlin-Kreuzberg.
20.1.1943
The Gestapo arrests Margot’s brother Ralph. When Auguste learns of her son’s arrest, she goes to the Gestapo to ask to be allowed to stay with her son. She leaves Margot with a neighbor, along with her handbag containing a notebook, an amber necklace and a verbal message: “Try to make a life for yourself.” Margot narrowly escapes the Gestapo and goes into hiding. She never sees her mother and brother again. Auguste and Ralph Bendheim are deported to Auschwitz on January 29, 1943, on the 27th Osttransport (or East Transport) train. There they are murdered.
"I was numb. My brother was gone, my little brother, who had never hurt anyone ... Why hadn't my mother waited for me?"
1943-1944
Margot goes into hiding. She cuts off her yellow star, changes her appearance several times — she dyes her hair and has a rhinoplasty — and wears a cross on her necklace, pretending she is Christian.
She meets a couple, Hugo and Irmgard Camplair, who hide her. With their niece Gretchen and also Margot, they all move into an empty apartment belonging to an acquaintance at Fasanenstrasse 70.
April 1944
On her way to the Zoo bunker, Margot is picked up by “catchers” (Greifer) on the street and arrested. On June 6, 1944, she is deported to the Theresienstadt Ghetto as serial number 1 with the “107th Old Age Transport.” Initially, she has to sew dresses for the wives of SS men in the tailoring workshop, and later splits mica in barracks outside the city.
"Food. Everything revolved around that. Everyone was starving. Added to that were the cramped conditions and the filth. At any time, a decision could be made about our lives – or our deaths. That was worse than the hunger."
20.1.1945
In the Theresienstadt concentration camp, Margot meets Adolf Friedländer again, the former administrative head of the Jewish Cultural Federation.
05.05.1945
Margot and Adolf witness the handover of the Theresienstadt Ghetto to the International Red Cross. They only realize their liberation when the Red Army arrives on May 8.
26.06.1945
Margot and Adolf marry in Theresienstadt according to Jewish rites. Four days later, Adolf receives a telegram from his sister Ilse in New York. As a result, he decides to emigrate to the USA.
July 1945
After a stopover at the Displaced Person (DP) camp “Camp Windsor,” Margot and Adolf live for a year in the Deggendorf DP camp near the Bavarian Forest.
07.08.1945
Civil wedding ceremony at the Deggendorf town hall.
18.07.1946
Margot and Adolf emigrate from Bremerhaven to the USA on the Liberty Ship “Marine Perch.” The ship docks in New York on July 28, 1946. There, the couple is received by Adolf’s sister Ilse. Their first purchase in America: three bananas. They spend the first few nights in a hotel in Manhattan, then Margot and Adolf live in a rented room on the Hudson River.
"Now two people, husband and wife, stood here in a new country, in a room, suddenly alone. After so many years in the camp, finally alone."
Margot does not understand the attitude of the emigrants in America; they hardly helped their relatives and did not bring the situation in Europe to light.
Autumn 1946
Margot and Adolf use the surname “Friedlander” in the USA. Margot finds work as a seamstress at Horowitz, while Adolf gets a job in a printing shop. They move to a better room on West End Avenue. In New York, they meet former Berlin friends of Adolf. Invitation to the German-Jewish service at Habonim, the German-Jewish congregation in New York City.
1947
Adolf Friedländer takes a new job as a sales representative for hats. The couple spends their first summer vacation in the Catskill Mountains, a popular meeting place for Holocaust survivors from New York City.
Margot suffers for years from chronic colitis, caused by her experiences during the war.
1948
In the following decades, Margot works as an alteration seamstress and later as a travel agent. Adolf takes a position as Assistant Controller at the Jewish cultural center The 92nd Street Y. A few years later, he rises to the position of Associate Executive Director (Financial Director). Move to a 3-room apartment in Queens.
1958
Margot and Adolf travel to Europe for the first time since their emigration. They avoid Germany and Berlin. From then on, they travel to Europe almost every year. They rarely talk about their past.
"But many survivors never want to talk about what happened again. That makes it even harder to cope with."
1959
Margot receives a letter from Berlin-Schöneberg officially confirming the death of her family.
1960-1975
1976
Adolf Friedländer retires; Margot gives up her work at the travel agency.
1983
From then on, Margot and Adolf spend the winters in Palm Springs, California.
1991
The Friedländer couple visits Margot’s cousin in Munich. It is the couple’s first visit to Germany since the end of the Second World War.
1997
Adolf Friedlander dies in New York without ever having been back to Berlin. After his death, Margot takes part in a writing course at the 92NY cultural center: “Write your memories.” She begins writing down her memories in English at night. When she presents her first story, “The day I went into hiding,” in the writing course, there is dead silence.
2003
At the invitation of the Berlin Senate as part of the “Visitor Program for Persecuted and Emigrated Berlin Citizens,” Margot Friedländer returns to her birth city of Berlin for the first time. Filmmaker Thomas Halaczinsky accompanies her and films the documentary “Don’t Call It Heimweh” with her at the locations of her youth.
2003
Margot falls in love with her hometown all over again. She reunites with Gretchen, a helper and friend from her time in the underground. Margot’s friend Barbara campaigns for the laying of Stolpersteine (stumbling stones) for the Bendheim family on Skalitzer Straße.
2005
“Don’t Call It Heimweh” celebrates a great success at the Jewish Film Festival in Berlin. Margot Friedländer begins writing down more memories in German. Thomas Halaczinsky later releases two more documentaries: “Späte Rückkehr” (2010) and “Angekommen – Margot Friedländer, Berlin” (2021).
2008
Thomas Halaczinsky’s film celebrates a great success at the Jewish Film Festival in Berlin. Instead of being the conclusion of her story, the film becomes a beginning: Margot begins to write further memories in the German language.
14.03.2009
For her autobiography, Margot Friedländer receives the Einhard Prize for biographical literature from the Einhard Foundation in Seligenstadt. The board of trustees justifies its decision with the words: “Margot Friedländer’s work is a brilliantly told, dramaturgically skillfully processed piece of life history as part of an impressive overall life achievement.”
March 2009
Margot and some friends travel to Israel at the invitation of the Goethe-Institut. Stops in Jerusalem and Yad Vashem.
"It is perfectly clear to me that I would not have come to Germany if my husband were still alive. I wonder if I am doing the right thing, after they killed my parents and my brother Ralph, after they killed my whole family."
Summer 2009
Margot Friedländer moves into a senior residence near Kurfürstendamm on a trial basis. She tours all over Germany with her book and gives readings at schools. After the trial period, she decides to stay in Berlin and close her apartment in New York, where she lived for 63 years.
07.04.2010
The Berlin Senator for the Interior, Ehrhart Körting, presents Margot Friedländer with her certificate of naturalization. Given her path of suffering, it is a great gesture by Friedländer to accept German citizenship again, Körting explains.
"I cannot hold the third generation guilty for the mistakes and crimes of their grandparents. They did not do it. But they are the ones who must ensure that something like this never happens again."
09.11.2011
Federal President Christian Wulff awards Margot Friedländer the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon at Bellevue Palace for her commitment to Holocaust education.
01.10.2016
Margot Friedländer is honored with the Order of Merit of the State of Berlin for her services to her birth city of Berlin.
27.01.2018
The Obermayer Foundation honors Margot Friedländer with the Obermayer Award for her services to the preservation and documentation of Jewish history.
26.06.2018
Margot Friedländer is granted honorary citizenship by the Berlin Senate.
09.11.2018
Minister of State for Culture Monika Grütters honors Margot Friedländer with the Prize of the Deutsche Gesellschaft e. V. for her services to German and European understanding as well as for her years of commitment to historical education regarding the inhumane dictatorship of National Socialism.
2019
Margot Friedländer is an ambassador for Article 1 of the Constitution (“Human dignity shall be inviolable”) in the public campaign “My Germany. I live here for good reason.”
14.05.2019
As part of the ceremony for the 70th anniversary of the Basic Law, the Deutschlandstiftung Integration honors Margot Friedländer with the TALISMAN Prize 2019. Dr. Mathias Döpfner delivers the laudatory speech. Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel and former Federal President Christian Wulff thank her for her tireless commitment.
27.06.2021
Margot Friedländer receives the Jeanette Wolff Medal from the Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin for her special services to Christian-Jewish dialogue.
25.05.2022
The Free University of Berlin awards Margot Friedländer an honorary doctorate from the Department of History and Cultural Studies.
04.07.2022
Margot Friedländer receives the Walther Rathenau Prize, which honors an outstanding lifetime achievement in foreign policy. In his laudatory speech, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier thanks Margot Friedländer for her commitment to democracy and the “gift of reconciliation.”
2023
The jury of the Berliner Morgenpost names Margot Friedländer “Berliner of the Year.”
23.01.2023
Margot Friedländer is awarded the Federal Cross of Merit First Class by Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey.
2023
“Ich bin! Margot Friedländer” is broadcast for the first time on ZDF. The docudrama traces Margot Friedländer’s moving life story on both a fictional and a documentary level.
2023
Margot Friedländer establishes the Margot Friedländer Foundation to continue her life’s work.
July 2024
German Vogue features Margot Friedländer on the cover of its July/August issue. As a young woman, Margot Friedländer had dreamed of becoming a seamstress and designer, but was unable to realize her dream due to the Nazi dictatorship.
2024
At the age of 102, Margot Friedländer is honored with numerous awards, including the Hermann Maas Prize, the Mevlüde Genç Medal of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Berlin Bear (B.Z. Culture Prize), the Brigitte Award, the Bambi in the “Courage” category, and the Prize for Understanding and Tolerance from the Jewish Museum Berlin. The laudatory speech is delivered by former Federal President Joachim Gauck.
25.09.2024
The film adaptation of her life, “Ich bin! Margot Friedländer,” receives the German Television Prize and the 3sat Audience Award.
26.09.2024
In the TV series Terra X History, the interviews that director Raymond Ley conducted with Margot Friedländer for the filming of the docudrama “Ich bin! Margot Friedländer” are available in three parts under the title “Margot Friedländer – Eight Conversations and an Excursion” in the ZDF media library.
27.11.2024
The Margot Friedländer Foundation presents the Margot Friedländer Prize for the first time at the Humboldt Forum in Berlin. Six individuals and initiatives are honored for their great commitment to tolerance, humanity, and against antisemitism and hostility towards democracy.
04.04.2025
As part of the Westphalian Peace Conference, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier presents Margot Friedländer with the Special Prize of the Peace of Westphalia. In his laudatory speech, Steinmeier emphasizes: “With the utmost respect and humility, we pay tribute to your unwavering commitment, with which you tirelessly advocate for the coexistence of diverse people in our society, combating prejudice and resentment. […] You not only help us to remember. You clarify what led Germany into the abyss before 1933.”
07.05.2025
On the occasion of the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the end of the war, Margot Friedländer recalls the last days of the war and her liberation in the Theresienstadt ghetto. It is her last public appearance, which she concludes with a renewed appeal to everyone: “For you. Be human. That is what I ask you to do: Be human!”
09.05.2025
Margot Friedländer dies surrounded by her closest confidantes.
She is posthumously awarded the Grand Cross of Merit of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, which was to have been presented to her on this day by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
16.05.2025
Margot Friedländer is buried in the Weissensee Jewish Cemetery, surrounded by her friends and in the presence of the highest representatives of the Federal Republic and members of the federal government. The eulogy is delivered by Leeor Engländer.
09.07.2025
The Margot Friedländer Foundation honors its founder with a memorial ceremony at the Philharmonie Berlin. In his commemorative speech, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier pays tribute to Margot Friedländer as a “witness of the century” who never tired of sharing her story to encourage subsequent generations to become “secondary witnesses.”
