Vogue Germany’s July-August 2024 issue has successfully turned the usually fashion-focused magazine into a global phenomenon with the surprising choice of Margot Friedlander, a 102-year-old Holocaust survivor, to grace its celebratory cover. In an interview accompanied by fashionable photographs, she recounted her youth in Nazi Germany and her commitment to continue Holocaust remembrance to this day.
Friedlander was born in Berlin in 1921 and spent the early years of the war with her mother and younger brother Ralph after her parents separated. They planned to escape Germany in 1943, but Ralph was arrested by the Gestapo. Her mother attempted to confront the Nazi soldiers, leading to her deportation to the Auschwitz concentration camp with her son, where both were murdered. Before being taken, she left a message for her daughter: "Try to create a new life for yourself."
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מרגוט פרידלנדר על שער מגזין ווג גרמניה, גיליון יולי-אוגוסט 2024
(Photo: Mark Peckmezian)
At 21, Margot was left behind. She tried to hide but was captured and sent to the Theresienstadt concentration camp in 1944. There, she met her husband, Adolf, and the couple married after their liberation from the camp.
In 1946, they immigrated to the United States and lived in New York for over six decades. In 2010, after her husband's death, she decided to return to Berlin. In an interview with Vogue Germany, she spoke of her struggles, saying, "I’m grateful that I managed to fulfill my mother's wish, to create a life for myself."
Since returning to Berlin, she has been active in raising awareness about the horrors of the Holocaust, an effort for which has won her a variety of awards. She told Vogue she was appalled by the rise of extreme right-wing movements and antisemitic attacks today. Talking about societal divisions, she said, "Don't look at what separates us, look at what connects us. Be humane."
The choice for Friedlander to head the magazine cover was part of a celebratory issue themed around "Love," focusing on "the items and people we cherish." She herself acknowledged the magazine, saying, "I’ll continue telling my story, so that the disaster that happened will never happen again."
The cover has garnered significant media attention worldwide, with The British Telegraph even referring to Friedlander as " Vogue’s best-ever cover star."
First published: 02:31, 06.23.24