Potsdam, 9. October 2023. Margot Friedländer, contemporary witness of the Nazi regime and survivor of the Holocaust: In the ZDF docudrama ICH BIN! MARGOT FRIEDLÄNDER, produced by UFA Documentary, the Berlin woman tells her life story, which is characterized by the National Socialist terror of the time. Raymond Ley’s film is based on conversations with the 101-year-old, who is still able to describe her experiences movingly despite her advanced age. Together with actress Julia Anna Grob, who plays the young Margot, Margot Friedländer also visited places from her youth.

I AM! MARGOT FRIEDLÄNDER will be broadcast on Tuesday, November 7, 2023, at 8:15 pm on ZDF. With the docudrama, ZDF is setting a program accent to commemorate the November pogroms 85 years ago (November 9, 1938). In the ZDF Mediathek ICH BIN! MARGOT FRIEDLÄNDER will be available for five years from Thursday, November 2, 3:00 pm.

Alongside Julia Anna Grob, other roles are played by Ilona Schulz and Peter Lewys Preston in front of Martin L. Ludwig’s camera. Iris Berben, Charly Hübner, Herbert Knaup and Axel Prahl are also involved in the production with guest appearances.

Margot Friedländer was born in Berlin in 1921. Her mother and brother were sent to the Auschwitz extermination camp in 1943. Margot, who was 22 at the time, went into hiding, dyed her hair and even had her nose operated on – until she was caught by so-called “snatchers” in the spring of 1944 and deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto. Margot survived. After liberation, she marries Adolph Friedländer, an acquaintance from Berlin whom she had met again in Theresienstadt. The couple emigrated to the USA, where they built a new life for themselves. It was only after her husband’s death that Margot visited her old hometown in 2003 at the invitation of the Berlin Senate. She has lived in Berlin again since 2010 and regularly visits schools to tell young people about her life.

I AM! MARGOT FRIEDLÄNDER is a production of UFA Documentary on behalf of ZDF. The producers are Gwendolin Szyszkowitz-Schwingel, Marc Lepetit and Nico Hofmann. Producers are Rodica Pietsch and Simon Sacha. The screenplay was written by Hannah and Raymond Ley, who also directed. Martin L. Ludwig and Dirk Heuer are responsible for the visual design. Stefan Brauburger and Anja Greulich (ZDF) are the editors.

In the ZDF press portal you will find the press kit, press photos via https://presseportal.zdf.de/presse/ichbinmargotfriedlaender, by e-mail to pressefoto@zdf.de or by telephone on 06131 – 70-16100.

The press release as pdf for download: