German Chancellor Friedrich Merz bows in front of the coffin before the funeral ceremony of Holocaust survivor Margot Friedlaender at the cemetery of the Jewish community in Berlin Weissensee, Germany, May 15, 2025. Photo: Kay Nietfeld/Pool via REUTERS

Margot Friedlaender, a Holocaust survivor who played an important role in Germany‘s remembrance culture ensuring the country’s Nazi past is not played down with the passage of time, was laid to rest on Thursday after dying last week aged 103.

A funeral ceremony took place at a Jewish cemetery and Holocaust memorial site in Weissensee, Berlin, the city where Friedlaender was born and to which she eventually returned.

Among the mourners were President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who bowed to her coffin which was covered in pink and white flowers.

Friedlaender died on May 9, almost exactly 80 years after the Soviet Red Army liberated the Theresienstadt concentration camp where she was imprisoned.

For Steinmeier, she embodied the “miracle of reconciliation” between Germany and Jews around the world, while Merz called her “one of the strongest voices of our time: for peaceful coexistence, against antisemitism and forgetting.”

Friedlaender was born in Berlin in 1921 to Auguste and Arthur Bendheim, a businessman. Her parents split in 1937, and Auguste tried in vain to emigrate with Margot and her younger brother, Ralph, in the face of intensifying persecution of Jews.

Her father was deported in August 1942 to the Auschwitz death camp where he was murdered. In early 1943, on the day Margot, Ralph and Auguste were set to make a final attempt to leave Germany, Ralph was arrested by the Gestapo secret police.

Auguste was not with her son at the time but turned herself in to accompany him in deportation to Auschwitz where both later died. Margot went underground and managed to elude the Gestapo by dying her hair red and having her nose operated on.

But she was finally apprehended in April 1944 by Jewish “catchers” — Jews recruited to track down others in hiding in exchange for security — and sent to the Theresienstadt concentration camp in what is the Czech Republic today.

She survived Theresienstadt and met her future husband, Adolf Friedlaender, there in early 1945, shortly before the liberation of all Nazi camps at the end of World War II, and they emigrated to New York in 1946.

In New York, Margot worked as a dressmaker and travel agent, while her husband held senior posts in Jewish organizations. Both vowed never to return to Germany.

After her husband’s death Margot revisited Berlin in 2003, among a number of Holocaust survivors invited back by the German capital’s governing Senate. She moved back for good in 2010, at age 88, regaining her German citizenship and giving talks about her Holocaust experiences, particularly in German schools.

“Not only did she extend a hand to us Germans — she came back; she gave us the gift of her tremendously generous heart and her unfailing humanity,” Steinmeier said this week.

Friedlaender‘s autobiography, Try to Make Your Life — a Jewish Girl Hiding in Nazi Berlin, was published in 2008, titled after the final message that her mother managed to pass on to Margot.

She was awarded Germany‘s Federal Cross of Merit in 2011 and in 2014, the Margot Friedlaender Prize was created to support students in Holocaust remembrance and encourage young people to show moral courage.

In a 2021 interview with Die Zeit magazine marking her centenary, Friedlaender reflected on the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party’s rise since 2015 on the back of anti-immigrant sentiment, saying it made her uncomfortable.

“I remember how excited the 10-year-old boys were back then [in Nazi era] when they were allowed to march. When you saw how people absorbed that – you don’t forget that,” she said.

“I always say: I love people, and I think there is something good in everyone, but equally I think there is something bad in everyone.”

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A man gestures the victory sign as he holds a Hezbollah flag, on the second day of the ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed group Hezbollah, in Tyre, southern Lebanon, Nov. 28, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Aziz Taher

The United States targeted two senior Hezbollah officials and two financial facilitators with new sanctions on Thursday for their role in coordinating financial transfers to the Iran–backed terrorist group, the Treasury Department said.

The latest sanctions come as President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the United States was getting very close to securing a nuclear deal with Iran, and Tehran had “sort of” agreed to the terms.

The people targeted were based in Lebanon and Iran and worked to get money to Hezbollah from overseas donors, the department said in a statement.

Treasury said overseas donations make up a significant portion of the Islamist group’s budget.

Thursday’s action highlights Hezbollah‘s “extensive global reach through its network of terrorist donors and supporters, particularly in Tehran,” said Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Michael Faulkender.

“As part of our ongoing efforts to address Iran’s support for terrorism, Treasury will continue to intensify economic pressure on the key individuals in the Iranian regime and its proxies who enable these deadly activities.”

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Schaeffer Hall, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa. Photo: Flickr.

“Your teacher needs teaching.” This quote appalled me because, although challenging ideas is crucial to democratic values, it’s dangerous to assume your perspective is the definitive truth.

When I saw that the University of Iowa’s Arabic Department was promoting a “Palestine Storytime and Craft” in the Iowa City Public Library (ICPL)’s Children’s Room, I was curious about what it would convey, especially as someone who has worked with children for almost a decade, was employed in my hometown library’s children’s department, and participated avidly in those programs growing up.

The comment sections on ICPL’s Instagram and Facebook pages were flooded with support and comments like “love this.”

The event was cosponsored by Iowans for Palestine (IFP) and a local activist.

Besides spreading misleading information at their weekly protests and campus events, IFP has worked on a piece with Al Jazeera, which Israel and others have repeatedly accused of bias. Additionally, IFP has promoted multiple fundraisers raising thousands of dollars for the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, which has been accused by watchdogs of funneling money to Hamas.

In October 2024, a pro-Palestinian community member spoke at an Iowa City School Board meeting, where she declared, “How much time has been given in schools to understand the Indigenous People’s struggle for liberation from their occupiers or colonizers? All the while, an act of genocide is happening right now against the indigenous Palestinian people. The education system has been used before to hide or ignore the truth, lie or mislead against the many atrocities indigenous people have faced … The abuse of education risks leading people to dehumanize an already embattled indigenous population … Standing against colonialism and apartheid is to stand with truth to power.”

This same activist took on the role of storyteller for the library event. She first read My Olive Tree by Hazar Elbayya, recognized as a Booklist Best Book of the Year, followed by A Map for Falasteen, written by Maysa Odeh and illustrated by Aliaa Betawi, which has received multiple honors, including Kirkus Best Book of 2024 and Booklist Editors’ Choice 2024.

The presenter repeatedly emphasized that the one thing she wanted everyone to focus on was the adults’ attire in the stories. She encouraged them to compare it to what she was wearing: a black and white keffiyeh.

In My Olive Tree, Hazar Elbayya portrays Israel as the villain through the eyes of a young girl who dreams of growing an olive tree, a cherished symbol of peace in her community, while soldiers are described as “forcefully march[ing] into our land and destroy[ing] everything in their path.”

A Map for Falasteen opens with a young girl struggling to find her family’s homeland on a map, while her classmates confidently share their own stories. When she asks why “Palestine” isn’t shown, her teacher dismissively suggests it may not exist, prompting the girl to turn to her family in search of answers. After reading the first page, the community member said to the audience, “It’s not actually on the map — it exists, but it’s not on the map.”

In the story, the girl’s grandpa draws a map of  “Palestine” and says, “Your teacher needs teaching. You can show this to her, so all of your friends can learn too.”

It was not hard at all to spot the keffiyehs, watermelons, and Palestinian flags throughout the books.

After she was finished reading, the organizer took the keffiyeh off her neck to show the children and their families. She said the pattern resembling a fishing net is a tribute to Palestinian fishermen. Another pattern, with squiggly lines, symbolizes olive leaves, which she described as an essential part of Palestinian culture. According to her, the straight lines represent the borders between the cities and villages of Palestine.

While the reader’s son — wearing a “Free Palestine” hoodie — and a few friends were notably engaged, the rest of the very young children seemed more interested in the craft portion of the event than the radical messaging.

It is a disheartening reality that many institutions, from college campuses to local libraries, are no longer prioritizing unbiased, meaningful education but instead are becoming platforms for harmful agendas.

This event is just one example of how young minds can be subtly influenced by radical messaging under the guise of innocent storytelling and community engagement.

As parents, educators, and responsible citizens, we must remain vigilant about what our children are exposed to. Just because a book has won awards does not mean it is objective, age-appropriate, or free from dangerous messaging.

It is our duty to ensure that young people are not preyed upon by pro-terrorist rhetoric or manipulated into adopting ideologies before they are old enough to critically assess them, especially when children are regularly weaponized by terrorists that try to appeal to them. Just look at how Hamas has used children to celebrate the deaths of babies held hostage — this is the destructive path that unchecked radicalization can lead to.

 Jasmyn Jordan is a spring 2025 graduate of the University of Iowa, where she was a Presidential Scholar, double majoring in Political Science and International Relations with a minor in Journalism. She was a 2024–2025 CAMERA Fellow and organized a variety of pro-Israel initiatives, including bringing a speaker to campus. Her work has appeared in The College Fix, New Guard, and Breitbart, and she has been featured in interviews at the local, state, and national levels.

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