‘I Promised Her We Will Never Forget’: Metsola Welcomes 100-Year-Old Holocaust Survivor To European Parliament
Marking the Day of Remembrance of the International Holocaust, European Parliamentary President Roberta Metsola welcomed a survivor of one of the world’s most harrowing historical epochs into the European Parliament.
100-year-old Margot Friedländer was greeted in Parliament with Metsola praising her for her unique story which was both “heartbreaking and hopeful.”
After surviving the Holocaust, which saw around six million Jews killed for their ethnicity, Friedländer dedicated her life to fighting anti-Semitism, discrimination, and exclusion.
“In her soft, clear voice she described the horror of the camps and the everyday depths of humanity she experienced,” Metsola said.
Friedländer experienced the worst of the Nazi regime’s harsh treatment of German Jews, having spent time behind the walls of a concentration camp following her capture in 1944.
It was there where she met the man that would later become her husband, Adolf Friedländer.
With the war’s end, the two had fled the continent and traveled to New York in 1946, where they married and took US citizenship.
Friedländer worked in New York as a tailor and travel agent, but following her husband’s death in 1997 she engaged in a course of biographical writing.
Her first book – Try To Make Your Life (2014) – detailed her liberation from the concentration camp.
This article is part of a content series called Ewropej. This is a multi-newsroom initiative part-funded by the European Parliament to bring the work of the EP closer to the citizens of Malta and keep them informed about matters that affect their daily lives. This article reflects only the author’s view. The European Parliament is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.
Featured Photo Credit: Roberta Metsola Facebook Page
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