What We Do
German Jewish Margot Friedländer nee Bendheim survived the horrors of Nazi Germany. In 1946 she moved to the U.S. with her husband and lived there for many decades. She decided to return to Berlin in 2010 in order to tell her story in Germany. Margot Friedländer is a remarkable woman. The Holocaust survivor is an honorary citizen of Berlin, a recipient of the Federal Cross of Merit and in November 2021 she celebrated her 100th birthday. Margot Friedländer wrote a memoir, is a public speaker, and has visited many German schools to talk with children and teenagers. Her hope is that by sharing her experiences and recounting her personal history, she can help prevent something like the Holocaust from ever happening again. Born in 1921 as Margot Bendheim to Jewish parents, she experienced the full horrors of the Nazi regime in Germany and witnessed the persecution of Jewish people first-hand. Following the deportation of her mother and brother to Auschwitz, Margot Bentheim spent years in hiding until she was herself deported to Theresienstadt in 1944. There she found Adolf Friedländer, whom she already knew from Berlin. They survived the concentration camp, married and emigrated to New York in 1946. After her husband died in 1997, Margot Friedländer, following several visits to Berlin, decided to return to Germany for good in 2010. Filmmaker Thomas Halaczinsky has spent years recording Margot Friedländer’s life and memories.
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