Berlin (EFE).- Holocaust survivor Margot Friedländer, 103, died on Friday, the day she was due to receive the Order of Merit of the Republic of Germany, a death that Chancellor Friedrich Merz said left the country without a strong voice against anti-Semitism.
“Margot Friedländer was one of the strongest voices of our time: for peaceful coexistence, against anti-Semitism,” Merz said in a message posted on his X network account, along with a recent photo of the Holocaust survivor with him.
She was to receive the Order of Merit of the Republic, an award given to individuals for social services, from German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, German media reported.
Friedländer stood out for her work and commitment to historical memory in German society, which, as a witness to Nazi crimes, helped to recall the grim reality of the Shoa (Hebrew word for catastrophic destruction), the murder of six million Jews by the Third Reich.
Among the victims of the Nazis were Friedländer’s parents and her younger brother, murdered in the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Avoiding the tragic fate of her relatives, she survived the Theresienstadt Ghetto, where she met her husband, Adolf Friedländer, another Berliner she knew.
After surviving the Holocaust, she emigrated to the United States in 1946 and lived in New York City for six decades before returning to Berlin at the age of 88.
Merz stressed that Friedländer had entrusted Germany with her story, a tragedy that must be remembered.
“It is our task and our duty to pass it on. We mourn together with her family and friends,” Merz said.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul also said his country would miss Friedländer and her work against anti-Semitism and racism.
“Up until the end, she gave the impression of being immortal. Her legacy is. Because it is more relevant than ever,” Wadephul said on his X account, where other German celebrities also expressed their condolences on Friedländer’s death.
Friedländer’s death came a day after Germany commemorated the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II on Thursday. EFE
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