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Berlin Names Parliament Square for Holocaust Survivor Margot Friedländer

The tribute anchors her testimony to the city’s seat of democracy.

Overview

  • Berlin unveiled the Margot-Friedländer-Platz sign outside the Abgeordnetenhaus, with Parliament President Cornelia Seibeld and Governing Mayor Kai Wegner in attendance.
  • Seibeld said Friedländer’s legacy will be visible every day and called the parliament the heart of democracy.
  • Officials had approved the renaming months earlier, timing the formal act to coincide with the first anniversary of Friedländer’s death.
  • Friedländer, a Berlin honorary citizen who died last year at 103, survived Nazi persecution and later spoke widely in schools about her experience.
  • She returned to Berlin in 2010 after decades in the United States, received the Federal Cross of Merit, and her foundation continues her educational work.