Margot Friedländer

It was arguably the deadliest conference in human history. The topic: plans to murder 11 million Jews in Europe. The participants were not psychopaths, but educated men from the SS, police, administration and ministries. The invitation to the meeting at Wannsee came from Reinhard Heydrich, head of the Reich Security Main Office. The Wehrmacht's campaigns of conquest in Eastern Europe marked the beginning of the systematic murder of Jews in Poland and the Soviet Union. In mid-September 1941, Hitler made the decision to deport all Jews from Germany to the East. Although there had been transports before, Hitler's order represented a further escalation in the murderous decision-making process. Persecution and discrimination had been part of everyday life since 1933. But as a result, the living conditions for the Jews in the Third Reich became even more difficult, among them the Berlin Jew Margot Friedländer, born in 1921, and the Chotzen family.

The documentary tells the life story of Margot Friedländer, a 101-year-old Berlin native who survived the Holocaust and was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit, First Class, in January of this year.

Angekommen - Margot Friedländer, Berlin

After the brutal massacre by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Israel on October 7, 2023, the worst act of bloodshed against Jews since World War II, anti-Semitism has reached a new qualitative dimension worldwide, including in Germany: arson attacks on synagogues, Star of David markings on front doors, graffiti on Holocaust memorials, well-attended demonstrations with anti-Israel slogans and shouts of "get out of here" at German universities by supposedly left-wing extremists, whose blatant threatening gestures and threats of annihilation are more reminiscent of the views of their Nazi grandfathers. Where is the state taking consistent action against such hostilities and where is the loud protest from the middle of society? Is Jewish life still safe in Germany? The documentary film has followed four German Jews in their fight against hatred over the last three months since the massacre and lets them report on their experiences.

Westpol: Eins zu eins

TV presenter Markus Lanz invites prominent guests and experts from all areas of public life to his colourful talk show. As a rule, there are four guests, introduced individually to contribute their personal experiences to the topics.