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102-Year-Old Holocaust Survivor Graces the Cover of Vogue Germany: ‘She Is a Remarkable Woman’
Margot Friedländer on the cover of Vogue Germany’s July/August 2024 issue. Photo: Screenshot
Holocaust survivor Margot Friedländer is the cover star of Vogue Germany‘s July/August issue, which is also the publication’s collector’s issue, dedicated to love.
“When I met Margot Friedländer for the first time, I was deeply impressed — from her directness, her warmth and, above all, her indefatigability,” said Kerstin Weng, head of editorial content at Vogue Germany. “She, 102 years old, who was betrayed, deported to a concentration camp, traumatized, meets people openly and forgivingly and is vehemently committed to mutual respect. She is such a beautiful soul and remarkable woman — it is an honor that she graces the cover of our collector’s issue, dedicated to love.”
Born Anni Margot Bendheim in Berlin in 1921, Friedländer spoke to Vogue Germany about her lifelong commitment to furthering Holocaust education. The 102-year-old has been visiting schools for over a decade to speak to children and young people about the Nazi atrocities of World War II.
“I know that what I do is important. It is needed,” she said in her cover story. “I can even speak for those who didn’t make it. My word is needed, I have an obligation.”
Friedländer, who is also the only member of her family to survive the Holocaust, set up the Margot Friedländer Foundation to support Holocaust remembrance and to promote tolerance and respect. In 2014, the Margot Friedländer Award was established to support young people taking action to further Holocaust remembrance, and making efforts to combat current forms of racism and antisemitism.
Friedländer was 12 years old when Nazi leader Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany. Her mother voluntarily surrendered to the Nazis when her younger brother was taken away, leaving Friedländer to fend for herself at the age of 21. Her mother and 17-year-old brother were eventually murdered in the gas chambers at the Auschwitz concentration camp. One of the last things Friedländer’s mother told her before being taken away by the Gestapo was “try to make a life,” which is also the title of the Holocaust survivor’s memoir.
During World War II, Friedländer hid for months with a Christian family. She dyed her hair, had her nose operated on, and wore a necklace with a cross in an effort to stop looking “too Jewish.” Nevertheless, she was discovered by Nazis and deported in June 1944 to the Theresienstadt concentration camp, where she narrowly escaped death.
A year after being liberated from the Nazi concentration camp, she moved to New York with her husband Adolf Friedländer. She lived in America for 64 years but, after her husband died, she moved back to Berlin permanently in 2010 and still lives in the German capital. She became an honorary citizen of Berlin in 2018.
The World Jewish Congress (WJC) said it was “very excited” to see Friedländer on the cover of Vogue Germany.
“At 102, Friedländer is one of Germany’s most vocal and well-known Holocaust survivors,” WJC said in a statement posted on X/Twitter. “She continues to advocate for Shoah education, speaking to young people about her experiences and teaching them the values of tolerance and humanity. WJC had the honor of collaborating with Friedländer on several Holocaust education projects as part of our #WeRemember campaign every year for International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27.”
When asked about antisemitism and current divisions around the world related to the Israel-Hamas war, Friedländer told Vogue Germany, “I tell people all the time: we are the same. There is no Christian, Muslim, or Jewish blood. There is only human blood … Antisemitism has always existed. It just depends on how he shows himself. And how people react to other people who tell them something that isn’t true but sounds good.”
“For me there is only one message: Be human,” she added. “I recognize everyone. To me you are all the same. There is something good in every person and you should focus on that.”
The post 102-Year-Old Holocaust Survivor Graces the Cover of Vogue Germany: ‘She Is a Remarkable Woman’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.