Auschwitz commemoration: Holocaust survivors: Democracy is wavering

Before the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Holocaust survivor Margot Friedländer warned of dangers to democracy. “The important thing is that democracy remains, which unfortunately is also wavering in many countries,” said the 103-year-old in an interview with the German Press Agency in Berlin. “It’s not very nice, but that’s how it is.”

In response to a question about the rise of right-wing parties in Europe today, Friedländer said: “I don’t know much about politics. But I always say: That’s how it started back then. Be careful. Don’t do it. Respect people, that’s the most important thing. “

Jews belong to Germany just like everyone else, said Friedländer, who comes from a Jewish family and survived the Theresienstadt concentration camp. “My message is: Be human,” she said. “To accept others, no matter their skin color or religion. We are all born the same way.”

Margot Friedländer was born in Berlin in 1921. At the beginning of the 1940s, she and her family tried in vain to flee abroad from the National Socialists. Mother and brother were murdered in the Auschwitz extermination camp. Margot Friedländer was able to hide, but was discovered and deported to Theresienstadt in 1944. After the war ended, she went to the USA with her husband. She came back at almost 90 years old. Since then she has been living in Berlin again and, among other things, provides information in schools.

The Auschwitz extermination camp was liberated by Soviet soldiers on January 27, 1945. The day has been National Holocaust Remembrance Day since 1996.