Margot Todtenkopf was the youngest of the two daughters of Alex Todtenkopf and Flora Segall. She was born in Prechlau (Poland) and moved to Berlin with her parents. She was unmarried. On 7 February 1939 she arrived from Berlin in The Netherlands, probably to Amsterdam but it is unknown where she stayed.
Margot had an elder sister, Anneliese, who was born 23 July 1913 in Prechlau. She arrived 27 December 1937 in Amsterdam where she lived at Stadionweg 129. She moved 7 February 1938 to Minervalaan 51, where she lived in with Antonia Schwarz. (Per 10 May 1939 her parents arrived at Minervalaan 42 ground floor). Anneliese did not experience the Holocaust. She was still unmarried when she left Amsterdam for Pardes Hanna in Palestine near Haifa on 17 March 1938. It is assumable that she there married Walter Max Ludwig Schoeps from Hamburg.
Margot Todtenkopf was educated as a servant maid at the Jewish Center for Vocational Training (J.C.B.), located in the Hemonylaan in Amsterdam from June 1940 and which, after completion of her training, judged her very suitable for that position. Margot then came to serve as a servant maid at the Central Israëlitic Mental Hospital “Het Apeldoornse Bos” in Apeldoorn. After the compulsory registration of all Jews in the Netherlands in 1941, partly on the basis of the explanation of her expertise of the J.C.B., she was “gesperrt” - "exempted from deportation until further notice because of function" by the Jewish Council.
When in the night of 21 to 22 January 1943, under leadership of the SS-officer Aus der Fünten, Het Apeldoornse Bos was “emptied” and patients and staff were carried off to Auschwitz to be killed there, Margot Todtenkopf however was transferred from Het Apeldoornse Bos to Westerbork, where she was registered on 22 January1943 and housed in barrack 72.
The following notes on her registration cards from the Jewish Council make clear that she has made frantic efforts to be exchanged to Palestine.
4 February 1943: it turned out that Margot occurred on the V-list, the veteran-list of Palestine veterans from the Jewish Center for Vocational Training (J.C.B.), from the Hemonylaan in Amsterdam.
12 July 1943: statement issued to Groenman on behalf of the person concerned (political investigation.
1 September 1943: department of emigration informed that according a statement of 12 August by Mr. J. Cohen Hzn, that the person in question would have qualified for a certificate.
21 September 1943: department of emigration informs: Official letter applied for Palestine certificate . The person concerned is “chaloets”. (hachsjara – Palestine pioneer).
All this, only has lead all the same to the deportation of Margot Todtenkopf on 18 January 1944 to Theresienstadt and from there on 19 October 1944 to Auschwitz. In September and October Jews from Auschwitz arrived in Bergen Belsen, among them at the end of October also Margot Todtenkopf. One part of the camp was called “the Star-camp”, intendcd for Jews who were eligible for exchange. They had a dual nationality (often bought South-American passports) or they had a Palestine Certificate with which they could emigrate to Palestine. Only a small number were actually exchanged and were allowed to go to Palestine. However not Margot Todtenkopf; due to the terrible conditions in the camp, she succumbed to hardship on 1 May 1945 in Bergen Belsen.
Sources: the filce cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Margot Todtenkopf; the Deutsch Gedenkbuch; Joods Monument and NIOD regarding J.C.B; website meeroverdeholocaust.nl/Bergen-belsen; City Archive of Amsterdam, family registration card of Anneliese Todtenkopf; residential card of Minervalaan 51 and 42 at Amsterdam.