Margot Friedländer, a 102-year-old Holocaust survivor whose family was murdered at Auschwitz, would seem an unlikely — even radical — choice to front a fashion glossy that customarily features comely models and celebrities. But a weathered and white-haired Ms. Friedländer is the latest cover star of Vogue Germany, a distinction she seems to wear as lightly as the tailored coat she models on the magazine’s July/August issue.
One of the world’s oldest and perhaps best-known Holocaust survivors, Ms. Friedländer is no stranger to fame. She has met with world leaders like Angela Merkel, the former chancellor of Germany, and has rubbed shoulders with A-listers like Helen Mirren.
Ms. Friedländer (nee Bendheim), who lives in Berlin, is a vociferous champion of Holocaust remembrance. She has made it her mission to tour hundreds of schools throughout Germany, urging her young audiences to neither forget past traumas nor cling to the grievances that continue to polarize people.
In the Vogue Germany interview, as in those talks, she expresses concern at the rise of right-wing populism and antisemitism in Germany and throughout the world.
Her multilayered message resonates with Anna Wintour, the editor in chief and global editorial director of Vogue and chief content officer at Condé Nast. While Vogue’s American edition did not feature Ms. Friedländer on its cover and has yet to feature a cover star of her ilk, Ms. Wintour, in an email, called the German Vogue cover “brilliant and inspiring.”
“Margot Friedländer is a wonderful subject, and a meaningful one,” Ms. Wintour said, “given the political currents across Europe.”
