08/31/2026
Margaret Friedmann wore this wedding gown on one of the happiest days of her life, when she married Mark Merin in Amsterdam on June 24, 1939. It was one of two dresses she wore that day, along with a reception dress.
Just two years later, after the birth of their son, Harry, Mark received a deportation notice. Determined to give their child a chance to survive, Margaret and Mark made the heartbreaking decision to place Harry in hiding with a non-Jewish woman while they hid separately.
Against extraordinary odds, the family was reunited in 1945. When they immigrated to the United States in 1951, Margaret brought this wedding dress with her. It was one of the few belongings the family carried into its new life.
Today, the dress preserves more than the memory of a wedding day. It bears witness to one family’s love, sacrifice, survival, and new beginning.
Learn more about Margaret's experience and her wedding dress: https://www.holocaustandhumanity.org/support/artifact-donation-coppel-resource-library-and-archives/