A stone bearing the image of Margot Friedländer lies at her grave during a memorial ceremony organized by Class 10C of the Max-von-Laue High School on the 105th birthday of Margot Friedländer, an honorary citizen. In Jewish tradition, stones are placed at the graves of the deceased instead of flowers.
© dpa
Berlin honors a special honorary citizen on her birthday: Students paid tribute to Holocaust survivor Margot Friedländer at the Jewish Cemetery in Weißensee by placing a memorial stone on her grave.
A reception is planned for this evening at the foundation named after her, and Berlin's Governing Mayor, Kai Wegner, has also announced that he will attend.
Friedländer died on May 9, 2025, at the age of 103. She came from a Jewish family in Berlin. She was deported by the Nazis to the Theresienstadt concentration camp. After the liberation in 1945, she emigrated to the United States. It wasn’t until she was 88 that Friedländer moved back to Berlin. She regularly visited schools and other institutions throughout Germany to share her life story as a witness to history. Her most poignant appeal toward the end of her life was: "Be human."