interview
Holocaust survivor Margot Friedländer daily topics-Interview expressed deep dismay at the increasing anti-Semitism. She is grateful for the protests against the right – but many more people should speak out loudly about their opinions.
daily topics: Ms. Friedländer, you were twelve years old when the Nazis came to power. And now you are 102 years old and have to witness how anti-Semitism is increasing again in Germany, how some are even talking about wanting to expel German citizens. What do you feel in Germany today?
Margot Friedlander: Yes, it makes me very, very sad, the whole story. I never thought it would happen again. Because that’s how it started back then. We are the ones who experienced this. Some of them are still alive now. It is particularly difficult for us to understand. And very sad.
daily topics: A few years ago, not so long ago, many Jews, especially young ones, came back to Berlin or moved to Berlin. They said: This is where my future or my new home should be. But things have changed for many people since October 7th. Many no longer feel safe. What do you advise them?
Friedlander: I don’t agree. I’m still of the opinion that it’s not just like this in Germany, it’s happening all over the world. Because we have to see what’s happening: there are fires everywhere. Anti-Semitism has always existed. That is nothing new.
“Be human”
daily topics: But anti-Semitism is on the rise again. This means it is less safe for Jews all over the world.
Friedlander: You need too many words for this – need fewer words. My mission is: I say, be human. We are all the same. There is no Christian, Muslim or Jewish blood. There is only human blood. Everything is the same. If you are human, you will know that a human would not do such a thing.
daily topics: Is there any anti-Semitism that particularly concerns you? There is a lot of talk right now about right-wing extremism, but also about anti-Semitism from people with an Arab background and a Muslim background from the left.
Friedlander: Come on, I can’t tell you that much about anti-Semitism. That’s actually not my mission. Because I can’t understand why people don’t accept that we are human. And that it is perfectly fine that we are Jewish or Muslim, but we are human (…) Because in every religion you are supposed to be human.
“Too few people express their opinion”
daily topics: We have seen a number of demonstrations in recent weeks. There were tens of thousands, even 100,000 people on the streets all over Germany against right-wing extremism. Some time before, for example against anti-Semitism, there were significantly fewer. How do you feel about how the Germans are currently dealing with the whole situation?
Friedlander: I am grateful for those who took to the streets. But it will always be those who are for us anyway. I think that more people should be loud, that too few people express their opinions. Why are they so reserved? It’s for you.
daily topics: January 27th is Holocaust Remembrance Day. What does that mean to you in Germany?
Friedlander: We were in Theresienstadt on January 27th. We didn’t know (…) I always thought after I was there for a month, maybe my mother and my brother were in something like that too. We didn’t know anything. It was always called the East. So Theresienstadt was the East for me. It wasn’t until a week before the liberation that a train came to Theresienstadt and the wagons were set up and the people fell out – that’s when we found out about the East.
daily topics: So what happened in Auschwitz.
Friedlander: That was the first time I heard it. And that was the moment that told me: whatever it is, I can’t find my mother, I can’t find my brother. Now I know what it is.
“It took a long time to become human again”
daily topics: How did you survive the time in the concentration camp? Has anyone remembered this day of liberation in any way? Was there any hope?
Friedlander: They did what was asked of us. I have worked. All I can say is that we took each day as it came. For us. The hardest thing for me was to see the old people who really had no opportunity to love, who vegetated like that. They died.
daily topics: You were in your early 20s at the time. You said that during your time in the concentration camp, you and the other people’s identities were taken away.
Friedlander: Yes. You’re not human. If you are a number, you are a number. We didn’t have a name. It took us a long time to become human again. A person who has an opinion. The one who has something to say, the one who is asked. We weren’t asked. We had no opinion.
daily topics: Today there is commemoration and remembrance of the Holocaust. Are you satisfied with how the Germans deal with memory and commemoration?
Friedlander: No. You don’t know enough.
“Do the best you can”
daily topics: They also tell young people that they should be contemporary witnesses in the future.
Friedlander: Absolutely, absolutely. And we also have contemporary witnesses who go to schools where the students send me thank-you notes and say: “We heard what you experienced. We are so sorry, Ms. Friedländer.”
daily topics: The life you had as a young woman in Berlin – whether it was fashion, acting, music, sport – this life was taken away from you by the Germans back then. They couldn’t live out their youth and life like that. What do you say to the young German generation today? Whether Jews or non-Jews? What do you wish for them and what do you hope for the new generation?
Friedlander: Be grateful. Take the best and do the best you can. Don’t look at the stars. Stay on earth.
daily topics: Thank you, Ms. Friedländer.
The interview was conducted by Helge Fuhst. It was shortened and edited for the written version.