‘Try to make your life’

As Margot made her life through the hardship of history, her smile comes from the power of her mother’s will.

AHN CHAK-HEEThe author is the head of the global cooperation team at the JoongAng Ilbo. The cover of Vogue Germany published last weekend is garnering attention. Generally, the summer issues in July and August feature scantily clothed young models, but this year, the cover is adorned by a gray-haired lady in a black peacoat.

She is Margot Friedländer, a 102-year-old Holocaust survivor. She is the oldest model to be on the cover of Vogue Germany. The social media account of Vogue Germany has gotten hundreds of thousands of likes and messages of warm support for having her on its cover. I became curious about Margot’s story.

In Germany, Margot is already a celebrity. A documentary about her life was screened at the 2004 Woodstock Film Festival, and her autobiography was published in 2008. Born in Berlin in 1921, she tried to move abroad with her divorced mother and brother when the Nazi regime started its genocide. Her plans were frustrated every time. While she hid her Jewish heritage, her mother and brother were arrested by the Gestapo police, sent to Auschwitz and died.

Margot was left alone. She changed her name, dyed her hair red and went through a dangerous nose surgery. Despite all of these efforts, one of the Jews who was hiding with her betrayed her, and she was sent to a Nazi concentration camp in Czechoslovakia.

There, she met her future husband, Adolf Friedländer. In an interview, she spoke about how she felt and how horrible life in the concentration camp was. She said she did not love Adolf, but they both needed time to recover as human beings. Pain, rather than love, brought them closer together, she said.

After moving to New York with her husband, she lived in Brooklyn for more than 60 years, and returned to Berlin in 2010 after her husband died. Margot pledged to devote the rest of her life to spreading the message of love and integration, and devotes herself to communicating with the younger generation and talking about the Holocaust.

In recognition of her efforts, the German government awarded her the government’s highest honor last year. Domestic and international organizations also praised her life with various awards.

I looked at the photo of Margot again. She lived through history and experienced all the pains and losses she couldn’t avoid, but she had a bright smile. The title of her autobiography is “Try to Make Your Life.” It was the last words her mother left for her before being taken to Auschwitz.

As Margot made her life through the hardship of history, her smile comes from the power of her mother’s will.